Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday underlined the West Bengal government’s “modus operandi” by saying that they, for so many years, robbed the rights of OBCs in the state by giving minority certificates to Muslims.
The prime minister was commenting on the Calcutta High Court’s recent order that scrapped all OBC certificates issued by the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government after 2010.
In an interview with ANI, PM Modi said, “This is their modus operandi. They first committed the sin of giving it (certificates) to minorities by making it a law in Andhra Pradesh. They lost the case in the Supreme Court as well as the High Court because the Constitution does not allow it. In West Bengal, the government issued OBC certificates to Muslims overnight and robbed the OBCs of their rights.”
The prime minister added that with the Calcutta High Court’s May 22 judgment, “the fraud” of the West Bengal government became clear.
“But what is even more unfortunate is that for vote bank politics, now they are also abusing the judiciary…This situation cannot be acceptable under any circumstances,” PM Modi said.
Why did Calcutta HC cancel OBC certificates?
The Calcutta High Court has struck down several classes as Other Backward Classes (OBC) under an Act of 2012 of West Bengal for reservation of vacancies in services and posts in the state, finding these illegal.
Passing judgment on petitions challenging the provisions of the Act, the court clarified that the services of citizens of the struck-down classes, who are already in service or have availed the benefit of reservation or have succeeded in any selection process of the state will not be affected by the order.
Most of these certificates were issued to Muslims. The court, which cancelling the OBC certificates issued to 77 classes of persons since 2010, said, “This Court’s mind is not free from doubt that the said community has been treated as a commodity for political ends.”
The court also noted that West Bengal did follow the proper routine to prove the backwardness of the people who were issued the certificates and that it appeared that the certificates were granted mostly because these people belonged to the Muslim community.
What happened in Andhra Pradesh?
The Muslim community in India is eligible to get OBC status both at central and state levels. However, the mechanism to provide OBC quota is different in each state.
In 2004, the Andhra Pradesh government issued an order to the Commissionerate of Minorities Welfare to examine the “socio-economic and educational conditions of the Muslim community in the state” so they can be included under the OBC category.
The Commissionerate in return recommended a 5 per cent reservation for Muslims in the state under the OBC quota. The recommendation was implemented in Andhra Pradesh in the same year.
However, in September 2004, the Andhra Pradesh High Court struck down the quota as “unsustainable.”
The next year, the government once again tried to reinstate the quota for Muslims which was challenged in the High Court following which the government replaced it with legislation.
In 2010, the Supreme Court took up the case and passed an interim order directing the parties involved to maintain the status quo till it hears the case.
Now, almost a decade later, the Andhra Pradesh quota issue is yet to be heard by the apex court.
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