Centre and Bengal Clash Over Muslim-Dominated OBC List

A persistent clash between the central government and the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government has escalated once again, this time revolving around the state’s OBC (Other Backward Classes) list.

The National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) has sent a notice to the TMC-led government, urging them to include 87 castes from the state in the Central Backward Classes list. NCBC Chairman Hansraj Gangaram Ahir is scheduled to hold a hearing on November 3 to address this issue.

Earlier this year, during a commission meeting in Kolkata, the state government revealed in writing that out of the 179 OBC castes on their list, 118 were Muslim OBC castes, with only 61 being Hindu OBC castes. The NCBC has raised concerns about this disproportionate representation of Muslim castes in the state’s list compared to the population, emphasizing the need to protect the rights of the original OBC castes.

In response, the Bengal government has proposed 87 new castes for inclusion, comprising 78 Muslim and just nine Hindu castes. The NCBC intends to review these proposals and has requested the state government to provide various documents, including descriptions and genealogies of these 87 OBC castes as listed in the Imperial Gazetteer, along with information on castes that were originally Hindu but later converted to Islam.

Notably, the Bengal government has not yet furnished these documents to the NCBC. The BJP has accused the state government of engaging in minority appeasement, further fueling the ongoing dispute between the Centre and Bengal over the OBC list.

Re-reported from the article originally published in The News 18 English