By notifying 66 groups among the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in West Bengal – which were in the state’s OBC list prior to 2010 – and doing away with its sub-categories A (more backward) and B (backward), the Suvendu Adhikari-led BJP government has reversed the previous Mamata Banerjee government’s move to include several Muslim communities in the OBC list, which the BJP has called “Muslim appeasement”.
The new BJP government has made 7% OBC quota applicable for these 66 groups, taking the OBC reservation regime in the state back to the pre-Mamata days. The Mamata-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) had first come to power in Bengal in 2011.
Advertisement
In 2012, the Mamata government passed the West Bengal Backward Classes (Other than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) (Reservation of Vacancies in Services and Posts) Act to provide a total of 17% OBC reservation – 10% for the “more backward classes” under Category A and 7% for the “backward” classes under Category B.
This was challenged in court, and the Calcutta High Court in May 2024 struck down a series of orders passed by the state government between March 2010 and May 2012 through which 77 communities, mostly Muslim groups, were given reservation under the OBC category. A division Bench of Justices Tapabrata Chakraborty and Rajasekhar Mantha found that religion had been the “sole” basis for the West Bengal Backward Classes Commission and the state government to provide reservation, which is prohibited by the Constitution and court orders.
Also Read | Bengal government ends religion-based welfare schemes, scraps OBC list
The high court cancelled all OBC certificates issued by the Bengal government after 2010, although it permitted those people already recruited under it to continue in their jobs.
Advertisement
The court’s order came in the middle of the 2024 Lok Sabha election campaign in which reservation for Muslims was a hot-button issue. The ruling BJP, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accused the Opposition of seeking to take away reservation and other benefits from Hindus and give them to Muslims.
The OBC interest also emerged as one of the key issues during the Lok Sabha polls, with both the BJP and the Opposition INDIA bloc, in their respective campaigns, accusing each other of trying to undermine the quota regime.
On June 11, 2025, Suvendu – then Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Bengal Assembly – accused the Mamata government of turning the OBC quota in Bengal into “One-Sided Beneficiary Classes” quota. This came close on the heels of the TMC government issuing a fresh notification on the groups that would get the OBC quota under categories A and B.
Suvendu then claimed that while there were 66 OBC castes in 2010 including 11 Muslim groups, the Mamata government’s 2025 list had 46 Muslim groups among the 51 in Category A and 21 Muslim groups out of 25 in category B. The percentage of Muslims in the first category was 90%
and in the second 84%, he said.
“If this reservation list is not prepared with the intention of providing ‘one-sided benefits’ exclusively to Muslims, by deliberately depriving Hindus and other communities, then the sun rises in the west,” he said. “Now, who are going to reap the benefits of the increased reservation for the OBCs? Muslims, as simple as that.”
Suvendu said the Supreme Court on December 9, 2024, while hearing an appeal filed by the Bengal government against the Calcutta High Court’s judgment, observed that reservation must not be based on religion. “The new list prepared by the Mamata government is simply a brazen contempt of court,” he alleged.
The National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) under then chairman Hansraj Ahir, former BJP MP, had also flagged the matter, accusing the TMC government of increasing the number of Muslim castes in the OBC list.
In June 2025, the NCBC issued a notice to then Bengal chief secretary Manoj Pant, seeking detailed information on the surveys conducted for the newly announced OBC list in the state within three days. Ahir noted that several castes had been notified as part of the state’s OBC list through three executive notifications dated June 3, 2025, adding that they mentioned that the listings were based on “detailed surveys”.
In an X post, Ahir had stated: “NCBC has issued a notice to the Chief Secretary, Government of West Bengal, seeking replies in response to NCBC’s earlier notice dated December 22, 2023, and subsequent letter… dated February 19, 2024. Time of three to six months was sought (by the state) to provide the information. Despite a lapse of more than a year, the requisite information is still awaited.”
In July 2025, the Supreme Court stayed the Calcutta High Court’s June 2025 order freezing the state government’s revised OBC list. Hearing the state’s appeal challenging the high court order, then Chief Justice of India B R Gavai, presiding over a three-judge Bench, said, “This is surprising. How can the high court stay like this? Reservation is part of the Executive functions. Right from Indira Sawhney, the position is that the Executive can do it. We are surprised at the high court’s reasoning,” he said.
While the Suvendu government’s move has left multiple Muslim groups out of the reservation ambit now, the total quantum of OBC quota in the state has also come down – from 17% to 7% – something that the Opposition may use to attack the BJP dispensation.