Muslim Quota Continues To Stir Tensions Between OBC Panel And Opposition-Ruled States—All You Need To Know

The controversy surrounding reservations for Muslims under the OBC category has resurfaced, as the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) reportedly raised the issue again in Karnataka, where the Congress government is in power.

This comes months after a war of words broke out between the ruling BJP and the Opposition INDI Alliance ahead of the Lok Sabha polls over the issue.

The NCBC, in its correspondence with the Karnataka government over the last several months, has raised over the quota provisions extended to the Muslim community in the state.

"We’ve been clear about our objections to how Muslim reservations are handled in Karnataka. We've discussed this and other topics with the state, as we have with other regions," Indian Express reported citing an NCBC insider.

NCBC chairman Hansraj Ahir, a former Union minister and BJP MP, visited Bengaluru on Thursday (12 September) and took up a host of issues, including the Muslim reservation, during his meetings, IE reported citing sources.

He is in Rajasthan's capital Jaipur today (13 September) to undertake a similar exercise.

The Siddaramaiah government has defended the state’s reservation policy, maintaining that it has not brought any new changes.

According to the state government, the provision for Muslim reservations under the OBC category has existed for decades for socially and educationally backward Muslims.

The Congress government has highlighted that the former BJP-led administration under Basavaraj Bommai had removed the 4 per cent reservation for Muslims under the 2B backward class category, moving them to a 10 per cent quota for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) before the May 2023 Assembly elections.

Additionally, the Congress also held that the then BJP government had given an undertaking that it would not implement such changes during the pendency of the case in the Supreme Court.

Karnataka's OBC reservation system is divided into four categories. Category 1 includes 94 castes, 17 of which are Muslim, competing for a 4 per cent quota.

Category 2A covers 103 castes, with 19 Muslim groups, for whom 15 per cent quota is earmarked.

Under category 2B, the Muslim community has been allotted 4 per cent quota.

Categories 3A and 3B, with a 9 per cent quota meant for nine castes, do not include any Muslim group.

The NCBC’s primary concern with Karnataka's OBC reservation structure lies in the fact that “its three categories have been open to Muslims, with one of these being open to all castes among Muslims”.

The NCBC argues that this gives Muslims a “higher representation than permitted by the Mandal Commission template, where there are castes across communities that are deemed to be socially and economically backward”.

The NCBC has criticised the "blanket quota" given to Muslims under category 2B, likening it to a form of "religious reservation".

The reservation for Muslims in government jobs and education, based on their social and educational backwardness, was introduced in 1994 by the then H D Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal government.

Although, this move through the creation of the “2B” category for Muslims, was the continuation of a process in the state that began several decades earlier.

The NCBC has also slammed the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) government in West Bengal, accusing it of gradually expanding the number of Muslim castes under the OBC category.

“The Bengal government has increased it to cover a large section of Muslims in the state. However, the high court struck down all OBC certificates issued after 2010,” the NCBC insider was quoted in the IE report as saying.

In May 2024, the Calcutta High Court cancelled all OBC certificates issued by the West Bengal government post-2010, although those already employed under these provisions were allowed to keep their jobs.

The high court had on 22 May struck down the OBC status of a slew of castes in Bengal granted since 2010, holding as illegal the reservation for them in government jobs and educational institutes.

The issue of Muslim reservation became a key issue during the Lok Sabha elections, with the INDI Alliance and BJP trading accusations. Both sides claimed the other was attempting to weaken the reservation system.

Opposition parties alleged that another term under Narendra Modi's government would result in constitutional changes aimed at weakening reservations.

Meanwhile, the BJP countered by claiming that the INDI Alliance aimed to redistribute SC/ST and OBC reservations to the Muslim community.

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