Congress on Sunday demanded that the government bring a legislation to implement the UPA-enacted Article 15(5) for providing reservation to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes in the private, unaided, but non-minority educational institutions. It pointed out that a 2014 apex court order had upheld Article 15(5), that the 2024 Lok Sabha election manifesto of Congress had promised to do the same and that a standing panel report too had favoured the course.

The move to press for implementing the measure on reservation, especially for OBCs, is being seen by some in the political circles in the context of the Opposition party looking for ways to deal with the NDA government readying the Waqf (Amendment) Bill. Interestingly, when the then human resource development minister in the UPA government, Arjun Singh, had used the Act to implement OBC quota in premier educational institutions, it had created a rift within the ruling establishment with some members of the PM-constituted National Knowledge Commission even resigning in protest.

Jairam Ramesh, AICC communications in-charge, said, "The country should know that the Constitution was amended in 2006 (The Constitution Ninety-Third Amendment Act) , when Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister and Arjun Singh was the education minister, and Article 15(5) was added to our Constitution which means that in educational institutions, whether government institutions or private institutions, reservation can be given to youth from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes."

Ramesh added, "We did it in government educational institutions, Delhi University, IITs, IIMs. In January 2014, the Supreme Court unanimously said that the amendment made in the Constitution, Article 15(5), is not against the basic structure of our Constitution..."