Mamata Banerjee defends OBC list in West Bengal Assembly, dismisses claims of religion-based quotas
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West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee firmly denied allegations that her government was granting reservations based on religion, as she presented a revised list of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the state Assembly on Tuesday.
Laying out the interim report submitted by the West Bengal Commission for Backward Classes, Banerjee clarified that the newly proposed OBC-A and OBC-B categories were based on data from a “scientific benchmark survey” conducted by the Commission.
“Some people are trying to campaign that the state government is providing reservations on the basis of religion, which is baseless,” she asserted.
“There is no question of making a list of OBC categories on the basis of religion,” Banerjee added, underlining that the new classifications were created strictly on the basis of social and economic backwardness.
Her remarks come amid ongoing legal scrutiny over the state’s OBC reservations. Last year, the Calcutta High Court nullified all OBC certificates issued since 2010, stating that “religion indeed appears to have been the sole criterion” for granting OBC status to 77 communities. In response, the state government, along with other petitioners, approached the Supreme Court.
On March 18, the government informed the apex court of its intention to carry out a fresh classification exercise. The Supreme Court allowed three months for this new process and scheduled the matter for review in July.
Updating the Assembly, Banerjee said, “The Supreme Court gave us three months to make a fresh OBC list with a proper survey.
Accordingly, the Commission conducted the survey and proposed a list of 140 communities. Out of that, 49 communities are on the OBC-A list and 91 communities are included in OBC-B, while 50 communities are also being surveyed. We hope that the survey will also be concluded within the time given by the Supreme Court.”
A day before the Assembly session, the West Bengal Cabinet approved the inclusion of 76 new castes in the OBC list, in addition to the 64 existing ethnic groups. The West Bengal Commission for Backward Classes made these recommendations based on its recent findings.
The Assembly session saw political friction as Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari sought to respond to the OBC list presentation. However, Speaker Biman Banerjee adjourned the session for an hour, leading to protests from BJP legislators.
Adhikari accused the government of avoiding accountability. “All MLAs and Ministers basically fled after the OBC list was laid out in the Assembly because they knew that in this list as well, Hindu communities have been deprived. We will continue our fight for them,” he claimed.
