Acting upon allegations that illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and Rohingyas from Myanmar were being allowed to take up reservation in West Bengal, the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) has now launched an investigation into the State’s OBC (Other Backward Classes) list, Commission Chair Hansraj Gangaram Ahir said on June 8.
The NCBC Chair, at a press conference in New Delhi, said, “When we visited the State in February this year, we took up the matter and questioned how there were more Muslim OBC castes than Hindu OBC castes in the State, when the absolute population of Hindus in the State is clearly higher. They did not have satisfactory replies.”
Mr. Ahir added that there was “clearly something wrong” with the State OBC list in West Bengal and that the NCBC is committed to removing communities that were added without due procedure. He said that nearly 90% of the communities in the Category A (Most backward) list were Muslim and similarly more than half of the communities in Category B were also Muslim.
According to the State government’s OBC list, 103 out of the total 180 communities are categorised as Muslim communities — most of them placed in the Category A list.
The NCBC chair went on to say that they had sought detailed clarifications from the State government about this. “First, they told us orally that these Muslim communities were Hindus before and had eventually converted. But when we came back to Delhi, they sent a written reply saying there is no proof that all these communities had converted from Hinduism.”
While speaking about the issue, Mr. Ahir clarified, “These issues should not be seen as the OBC Commission taking a stand against Muslims. I am aware that there are many Muslim communities entitled to reservation and they should not be deprived of their benefits either.”
But this is about the State government allowing reservation to be taken up by those not entitled to it “in order to appease some communities”, Mr. Ahir said. When asked which particular communities the Commission is looking at in its investigations, the NCBC chair said, “We are going to do an in-depth inquiry in the coming weeks. Addition of communities like this has been done for years now.”
The NCBC chairperson also alleged that the State government in West Bengal was using institutions such as the Cultural Research Institute (CRI) to get positive recommendations for whatever communities that it wished to add.
On the other hand, Mr. Ahir also said that several States such as Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, and Maharashtra had asked for some communities to be added to the Central OBC list. He added that the Commission was looking into these requests.
Meanwhile, in what was his first press interaction since he took up the position as NCBC Chairperson, Mr. Ahir asserted that the Union government, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had taken monumental strides in OBC welfare.
He cited the 2021 Constitutional Amendment (105th) which reinforced States’ power to build their own OBC lists. He also mentioned the 102nd Constitutional Amendment, which he claimed had solidified the NCBC and its powers. Mr. Ahir also credited the Modi government for bringing in reservations for OBCs in schools and medical colleges, which he said could have been done at least a decade ago but was not.
However, Mr. Ahir maintained that in his State visits and reviews conducted in the last six months, he found that all States — Bihar, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Punjab, etc. — were poor at maintaining accurate rosters for hirings as per reservation.
“Whether it is PSUs, banks, educational institutes, teaching positions or others, rosters are not being maintained properly and directions have been issued to that effect. Ultimate goal is to ensure that everywhere where there is entitlement, full 27% reservation should be given to OBCs,” Mr. Ahir said.
