Suvendu alleges Hindu exclusion in new OBC list, calls CM's statement "misleading" | Watch

Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday criticized the West Bengal government's handling of the Other Backward Classes (OBC) list in the state Assembly. Adhikari alleged that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's statement regarding the OBC reservation was misleading. His comments came after the Chief Minister laid out the interim report of the West Bengal Commission for Backward Classes, detailing a proposed list of 140 communities for OBC inclusion, with 49 in OBC-A and 91 in OBC-B.

Adhikari claimed that the Chief Minister was "not ready to face questions from the Opposition" after Speaker Biman Banerjee adjourned the house for one hour following the presentation of the OBC list. He further stated, "All MLAs and Ministers basically fled after the OBC list was laid out in the Assembly because they knew that in this list as well, Hindu communities have been deprived. We will continue our fight for them." This led to BJP MLAs raising slogans against the state government within the Assembly.

This political contention arises in the context of the Calcutta High Court's decision on May 22, 2024, which cancelled all OBC certificates issued by the state since 2010, citing that "religion indeed appears to have been the sole criterion" for granting OBC status to 77 communities. The Supreme Court has since given the West Bengal government three months to conduct a fresh exercise for OBC identification, a process which the Chief Minister informed is underway with surveys for 50 additional communities still in progress. The West Bengal Cabinet also recently approved the inclusion of 76 new castes to the existing 64 ethnic groups on the OBC list, based on recommendations from the West Bengal Commission for Backward Classes.