Mamata lays out new OBC list in West Bengal Assembly: ‘No question of religion-based reservations'

Indian Express

a day ago

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, while laying out the interim report of the West Bengal Commission for Backward Classes in the state Assembly, said, 'Some people are trying to campaign that the state government is providing reservations on the basis of religion, which is baseless.'
On Tuesday, she said in the Assembly, 'We made the new list of OBC-A and OBC-B on the basis of a scientific benchmark survey conducted by the Commission and included those communities who are backward. There is no question of making a list of OBC categories on the basis of religion.'
Last year, the West Bengal government and other petitioners moved the Supreme Court after the Calcutta High Court, on May 22, 2024, cancelled all OBC certificates issued by the state since 2010, saying 'religion indeed appears to have been the sole criterion' for granting OBC status to 77 communities.
The West Bengal government on March 18 this year informed the Supreme Court that a fresh exercise for the identification of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the state would be conducted, following which the Supreme Court agreed to adjourn the matter by three months and take it up in July.
In the Assembly session on Tuesday, Banerjee went on, '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 in OBC-A list and 91 communities are included in OBC-B, while 50 communities are also being surveyed. We hope that survey will also be concluded within the time given by the Supreme Court.'
The West Bengal Cabinet on Monday gave approval to include 76 new castes to the Other Backward Class (OBC) list. The new castes would be added to the existing 64 ethnic groups on the OBC list, an official said. The recommendations to add more castes to the OBC list were made by the West Bengal Commission for Backward Classes (WBCBC).
After the Chief Minister laid the bill, Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari wanted to speak, but Speaker Biman Banerjee adjourned the house for one hour. After this, BJP MLAs started raising slogans against the state government. Adhikari claimed that the CM was 'not ready to face questions from the Opposition.'
'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,' Adhikari said.
Atri Mitra is a Special Correspondent of The Indian Express with more than 20 years of experience in reporting from West Bengal, Bihar and the North-East. He has been covering administration and political news for more than ten years and has a keen interest in political development in West Bengal.
Atri holds a Master degree in Economics from Rabindrabharati University and Bachelor's degree from Calcutta University. He is also an alumnus of St. Xavier's, Kolkata and Ramakrishna Mission Asrama, Narendrapur.
He started his career with leading vernacular daily the Anandabazar Patrika, and worked there for more than fifteen years. He worked as Bihar correspondent for more than three years for Anandabazar Patrika. He covered the 2009 Lok Sabha election and 2010 assembly elections. He also worked with News18-Bangla and covered the Bihar Lok Sabha election in 2019. ... Read More