A major conspiracy debate has erupted in West Bengal ahead of the crucial 2026 State Assembly elections, following government official data that shows 86 per cent of the new additions to the state’s OBC list are Muslims. While Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee defends the move as scientific and lawful, the BJP has accused her of engineering an anti-Hindu agenda to strengthen her minority vote bank. The BJP has branded it as “backdoor reservations,” accusing the TMC of using caste quotas as a political weapon for upcoming Bengal elections.
A major political controversy has emerged in West Bengal following the release of the latest report on Other Backward Classes (OBC) by the West Bengal Commission for Backward Classes (WBCBC). Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, while presenting the report for the financial year 2024–25 in the State Assembly, declared that the state’s OBC list “is not based on religion.” However, opposition leaders have accused Banerjee of engineering a systematic conspiracy against the Hindu community by allegedly prioritising Muslims in the OBC category to secure electoral advantages.
Addressing the Assembly, Mamata Banerjee strongly rejected allegations that her government was extending caste-based reservation benefits on religious grounds. According to Mamta, “a section” was attempting to mislead people with false claims about religious favouritism. She asserted that the preparation of the new OBC list was purely “scientific,” based on field surveys conducted by the WBCBC, and in compliance with the Supreme Court’s directive issued in December 2024.
As per the data presented, the WBCBC identified 140 communities to be included in the revised OBC list — 49 under OBC-A and 91 under OBC-B — with surveys for 50 more communities ongoing.
Despite the Chief Minister’s reassurances, opposition leaders, particularly from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), have levelled sharp accusations against her government. They claim that far from adhering to constitutional provisions, the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) government is engaging in a calculated campaign to diminish Hindu representation in backward-class reservations while favouring Muslims.
Reservation Strategy Branded as Anti-Hindu Agenda
BJP leaders have openly accused Mamata Banerjee of deliberately conspiring to marginalise the Hindu community in the state’s reservation system. Amit Malviya, head of BJP’s IT Cell, alleged in a social media post that the new OBC inclusions overwhelmingly favoured Muslims. He highlighted that prior to 2010 — when Mamata Banerjee’s party came to power — West Bengal had 66 OBC classes, with only 11 being Muslim (20%). By contrast, of the 76 new additions made in 2025, 67 are Muslim, accounting for nearly 88% of the total additions.
In 2025, the West Bengal government introduced 76 new communities into the OBC list. These additions were divided into two sections:
Part A: 51 communities, of which 46 were identified as Muslim (around 90 per cent)
Part B: 25 communities, of which 21 were Muslim (approximately 84 per cent)
Further intensifying the political row, Malviya accused the West Bengal government of openly encouraging religious conversions for electoral benefits. According to Malviya, provisions in the OBC list stipulate that individuals who convert to Christianity will automatically be eligible for OBC status. Describing this provision as a “dangerous precedent,” Malviya characterised it as Mamata Banerjee’s strategy of using reservations as a reward for conversion and a means of ensuring long-term electoral gains.
“These decisions clearly constitute a conspiracy against Hindus,” alleged BJP Amit Malviya. They charged the TMC government with promoting minority appeasement by giving Muslims disproportionate access to reserved benefits while sidelining genuinely backward Hindu communities, including Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs).
Judicial Orders and Political Responses
The matter has not been limited to political accusations alone. The OBC reservation process in West Bengal has already faced judicial scrutiny. On May 22, 2024, a division bench of the Calcutta High Court cancelled all OBC certificates issued in West Bengal after 2010, effectively nullifying benefits for over 5 lakh individuals. The High Court found that many of the post-2010 inclusions were religion-based and not in accordance with constitutional provisions for backward class recognition.
Following the Calcutta High Court’s ruling, the West Bengal government approached the Supreme Court of India, which, in March 2025, allowed the state to conduct a fresh survey and submit a revised list within three months. Despite this allowance, on December 9, 2024, the Supreme Court clearly stated that reservations cannot be granted based on religion.
BJP leaders allege that despite these clear judicial directives, the Mamata Banerjee government prepared the revised OBC list in a manner that closely resembled the previously struck-down lists. Leader of the BJP Suvendu Adhikari accused the TMC government of pursuing the same path of appeasement that the courts had already rejected, calling it a deliberate and systematic attempt to distort social justice mechanisms for political purposes.
Increase in Reservation Percentage Underhandedly
Adding to the controversy, the West Bengal government recently increased the OBC reservation in State Services from 7 per cent to 17 per cent. According to experts, this increase directly benefits the newly added Muslim groups, cementing their disproportionate advantage in state jobs and educational opportunities.
“This is nothing but backdoor religion-based reservation,” said BJP spokespersons. “It is a betrayal of the constitutional principle that caste-based reservations must serve the most deprived, not political vote banks.”
TMC leaders, however, have refuted these charges. TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh claimed that the BJP was misrepresenting facts and deliberately misleading the public. Ghosh insisted that the Mamata Banerjee government had acted strictly according to the law and constitutional guidelines, emphasising that no illegality or religious favouritism was involved in the fresh survey or the revised OBC recommendations.
TMC Turning Religious Demography into Political Weapon
While Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has consistently maintained that the list is religion-neutral, critics have pointed to West Bengal’s religious demographics to highlight their scepticism. Muslims constitute approximately 27 per cent of the state’s population, yet in the newly updated OBC list, they form over 86 per cent of the added communities. BJP leaders accused that such skewed representation cannot be attributed to mere coincidence or statistical anomalies.
BJP representatives contend that the move forms part of a broader conspiracy to strengthen the Muslim vote bank ahead of the crucial 2026 Assembly elections. They allege that the systematic inclusion of Muslim groups under the guise of caste-based reservation is aimed at marginalizing Hindu backward classes to reduce their share of state-sponsored opportunities.
These developments represent not just political appeasement but an organised effort to weaken the standing of Hindu backward classes within the reservation framework of West Bengal, According to the BJP.
TMC’s Justify Hindu Marginalisation
While TMC leaders continuously try to reject allegations of communal bias, the legal and political challenges for Mamata Banerjee’s government are far from over. The Supreme Court’s final review of the newly proposed OBC list is still pending. Until then, the issue remains a central point of contention in West Bengal’s political discourse.
For now, Mamata maintains that the entire OBC reclassification was carried out based on scientific field surveys and in complete alignment with judicial directives. Meanwhile, the BJP remains steadfast in its stand, portraying the Chief Minister as orchestrating a conspiracy designed to benefit religious minorities at the expense of Hindu communities.
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