Explainer: How Calcutta High Court’s Muslim OBC order will help BJP’s national campaign
The Bharatiya Janata Party has accused the Mamata Banerjee government of ‘appeasing’ Muslims by creating a separate sub-category for Muslim OBCs.
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The Calcutta High Court’s decision on Wednesday to cancel all Other Backward Class certificates issued by the West Bengal government since 2010 has given Prime Minister Narendra Modi the ammunition to claim that is legal backing to his contention that Opposition parties have used reservations as a means to “appease” Muslims.
The verdict will invalidate about five lakh OBC certificates.
The decision, which came in the middle of the Lok Sabha elections, holds political significance as it nullifies all OBC certificates issued during the tenure of the Trinamool Congress administration led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee since 2011.
OBC reservation has been a contentious matter in West Bengal for some years. In the lead up to the 2021 state elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party had accused the Banerjee government of “appeasing” Muslims by creating a separate sub-category for Muslim OBCs. This would allow them to apply for reserved seats in educational institutions and government jobs.
After Wednesday’s Calcutta High Court verdict, the matter has become a national issue. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the verdict showed that the Bengal government had resorted to “vote bank politics” by issuing unwarranted OBC certificates to Muslims. He linked the court decision to the BJP’s claim that if the Opposition parties came...
