Backwardness, not religion, sole criterion for fresh OBC survey in Bengal: Mamata
Kolkata: "Backwardness, and not religion, was the sole criterion for the fresh OBC survey in Bengal," CM
told the state assembly on Tuesday, tabling the report which has identified 140 communities in the OBC category.
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While there are 49 and 91 subgroups in the OBC-A and OBC-B categories, respectively, 50 more groups are being evaluated for inclusion.
The legal gridlock on the OBC issue has had an overriding impact on Bengal, from pausing admissions in schools, colleges and universities to state govt recruitments. Banerjee said the issuance of OBC certificates for college admissions and govt jobs would resume immediately. "Many recruitment boards kept the process on hold due to the legal confusion.
That will now be resolved," she said.
A Calcutta High Court 2024 ruling (now challenged in SC) had scrapped several groups in the Bengal OBC list, bringing down the 17% OBC reservations to 7% and cancelling around five lakh caste certificates.
The fresh report allows the Bengal govt to restore OBC reservations to 17%, allocating 7% for OBC-A and 10% for OBC-B. This is set to increase slightly with the 50 additional groups being evaluated.
Banerjee said a deliberate misinformation was being spread over the issue of OBC reservations, dubbing it a "political conspiracy" to mislead people. "A false narrative is being circulated on social media and even by some sections of the media, claiming that reservations are being granted on the basis of religion. This is a complete lie," she said.
The CM said the HC striking down OBC status for 113 classes and cancelling the OBC-A and OBC-B sub-categories reduced the overall OBC reservation from 17% to just 7%, severely affecting thousands of beneficiaries across the state.
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On May 22, 2024, the HC, while striking down the OBC list, had observed: "Religion indeed appears to have been the sole criterion for declaring these communities as OBCs." The state govt challenged this in Supreme Court and undertook to conduct a fresh survey within three months and complete it by June-end.
Following this, a new Backward Classes Welfare Commission, headed by former Calcutta HC judge Asim Kumar Banerjee, was constituted.
The commission began reviewing the inclusion of 117 communities — including the 113 that were earlier excluded — based on a fresh benchmark survey by the Bureau of Applied Economics and Statistics. An additional 26 communities also applied for inclusion, prompting the commission to expand its survey.
In the report, CM Banerjee said that on May 8, 2025, a new govt notification created fresh sub-categories within the 66 OBC communities that the HC had not invalidated.
On May 27, 51 communities were reinstated into the OBC list by the commission, followed by another 25 on June 3. Sub-categorisation was also resumed, placing 35 communities under OBC-A and 41 under OBC-B on the same day.
"Every morning, we wake up to a flood of fake news on social media. That is why I felt it was necessary to clarify the entire matter in the assembly," the CM said.
Taking a swipe at Left Front, Banerjee said: "No proper surveys were conducted during the CPM era.
It was only after we came to office that a benchmark survey was done to create this list. OBC-A groups are comparatively more backward, which is why they are entitled to greater reservation."
Leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari tried to intervene, but Speaker Biman Banerjee did not allow him to speak. Adhikari alleged that the entire process was an example of appeasing a particular religious community. "The real OBCs will remain deprived," he said, adding that they would present their views during the next hearing in Supreme Court.
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