OBC reservation has always been a big and controversial issue in the politics of West Bengal, but now it has taken a historic turn. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has reduced the state’s OBC reservation from 17 percent to 7 percent. The most shocking thing is that under this decision, OBC reservation for Muslim communities has been completely abolished. The government has restored the original OBC list before 2010, which included only 66 castes and these castes will now get only 7 percent reservation. This decision was taken after the first cabinet meeting of the new government and with this the OBC categories (OBC-A and OBC-B) created on the basis of religion in the state have been completely abolished. What is this whole matter after all?

What was the system before 2010?

Till 2010, West Bengal’s OBC list included only 66 castes, which were created entirely on the basis of social and economic backwardness. This list was prepared after many years of study and recommendations of the Commission and genuine backward class communities were included in it.

How did Left Front and Trinamool change the equations after 2010?

After this the political game started. In September 2010, just before the assembly elections, the Left Front government included 42 new castes in the OBC list and also divided the reservation into two categories: 10% reservation for Category-A (extremely backward) and 7% for Category-B (backward).

After coming to power in May 2012, Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress government took it further and added 35 more castes to the OBC list. Together, these two governments included a total of 77 new castes in the OBC list, out of which 75 belonged to the Muslim community. In this way, OBC reservation in the state became 17% (10% for Category-A and 7% for Category-B) and about 80% of the Muslim population of the state came under this reservation.

How did Calcutta High Court catch this ‘game’?

The biggest turning point in this entire matter came on 22 May 2024, when the Calcutta High Court gave a historic verdict. The bench of Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty and Justice Rajashekhar Mantha canceled the reservation of 77 castes included in the OBC list after 2010, terming it illegal and unconstitutional.

The court said in its decision, ‘Religion is the only criterion for declaring these communities as OBC.’ The court also said that this reservation was given for political purposes, which is an insult to democracy and the entire community. Not only this, the court clarified that the OBC status given to the communities was given in a hurry because it was an election promise of Mamata Banerjee and unconstitutional method was adopted to fulfill it as soon as she gained power.

Due to this decision, about 12 lakh OBC certificates issued after 2010 were cancelled. However, the court also made it clear that the services of those who have already taken advantage of this reservation and got jobs will not be affected by this decision.

Mamata Banerjee’s protest and legal battle

Mamata Banerjee took a very strict stand against the decision of the High Court. She said, ‘I will not accept this order of the court, I will not accept it, I will not accept it…’ Her government challenged this decision in the Supreme Court. There was a period of legal turmoil in the Supreme Court. First, the Supreme Court stayed the High Court order and allowed the state government to implement the 17% OBC quota. But in August 2024, Justice Kaushik Chanda of Calcutta High Court ordered in a JEE case that only the old OBC quota formula of 2010 (7%) will be applicable. After this, the Supreme Court bench of three judges gave permission to the state government to implement the 17% quota.

What did Shubhendu government do now?

After the change of power in the 2026 assembly elections, the first major decision taken by the BJP government led by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari was regarding OBC reservation. The government took 5 big steps:

1. Petition withdrawn: First of all, the new government withdrew the petition filed by the Mamata Banerjee government in the Supreme Court, in which the High Court’s decision was challenged.
2. Old list restored: On May 19, 2026, the Backward Classes Welfare Department issued a notification restoring the pre-2010 OBC list, which included only 66 castes.
3. Reservation reduced: Total OBC reservation was reduced from 17% to 7%.
4. Religion-based categories eliminated: The religion-based categories of OBC-A and OBC-B were completely abolished.
5. Muslim community out: The new list removed 74 sub-castes, most of which were Muslims. Now only three Muslim communities – Pahadia, Hajjam and Chaudali are included in the OBC list.

Apart from this, many traditional and social communities like Kapali, Kurmi, Barber (Nepit), Tanti, Dhanuk, Butcher, Khandait, Turha, Paharia Muslim, Devanga, Hajjam (Muslim), Goala, Sutradhar, Karmakar, Swarnakar etc. are included in the new list.

How big is the impact of this decision?

This decision can have 4 major impacts:

• Affected Certificates: After the High Court’s decision, about 12 lakh OBC certificates issued after 2010 were cancelled.
• Beneficiary: Under the previous system, about 80% of the Muslim population of the state used to get the benefit of OBC reservation, which will now end.
• Impact on education: After the new notification, the Education Department has increased the OBC quota to 7% in the centralized admission portal. “We are following the state order in all matters of admission and establishment,” said Debajyoti Konar, registrar of Presidency University.
• Socio-Economic Impact: Experts believe that this decision will bring a big change in the caste equations in the state. OBC researchers say that there was a slight improvement in the presence of Muslims in jobs like higher education, police force and teaching, but now they will have to fight in the general category, due to which their representation may fall rapidly.

On this, Suvendu government says that this decision has been taken in compliance with the order of Calcutta High Court of May 2024. The government argues that previous governments included Muslims in the OBC list for ‘vote bank politics’, due to which the genuinely backward Hindu communities were deprived of the benefits of reservation.

At the same time, TMC has described this decision as ‘anti-Muslim’ and ‘against social justice’. BJP has called it ‘end of appeasement politics’.

Former top civil servant and expert Jawahar Sarkar said the impact of a large number of Muslims being left out of the OBC list is likely to be more political than socio-economic.

Political issue is bigger than reservation

This whole matter is not just about reservation, but about politics. In 2010, the Left Front and in 2012, TMC included Muslim communities in the OBC list for electoral gains. In 2024, the Calcutta High Court declared it unconstitutional. The new BJP government made this its election promise in 2026 and implemented it as soon as it came to power.