Muslims form a substantial part of population of West Bengal.
In a significant development, the
National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) has now recommended to the Union government to exclude 35 communities from the State’s Central OBC list, most of which are Muslim.
In this regard,
This recommendation was made in continuation of the NCBC’s scrutiny of West Bengal’s OBC list in light of a high number of Muslim communities being listed as OBCs. Most of the communities in the list of 35 recommended for exclusion are such Muslim communities. One or two of them may be non-Muslim communities,” said Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, under whose chairpersonship the recommendation was made. West Bengal is months away from its next Assembly election.
recommendation to exclude these communities came months after the NCBC initiated a probe into 37 communities included in the Central OBC list of West Bengal in 2014, just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. Of these, 35 were Muslim communities. Responding to direct questions about the NCBC’s scrutiny of these 37 communities in Lok Sabha, the Social Justice Ministry said on Tuesday (December 2, 2025) that 35 communities had been recommended for exclusion from West Bengal’s Central OBC list.
The government said that the NCBC tendered its advice on the exclusions in West Bengal in January this year. As per the modalities of inclusion and exclusion of communities from Central OBC lists, any advice of the Commission must be signed by the Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson, and all Members. However, at the time this advice was tendered, the Commission had just a Chairperson and one Member, and no Vice-Chairperson.
This could be seen as a setback to TMC lead State Government with election not so far .
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