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.
