January 09, 2026
- OBC Morcha Claims Against Current Reservation Policy
Kamal Kumar Biswas.TOD.Balurghat
A controversy over changes to West Bengal’s Other Backward Classes (OBC) framework has triggered coordinated protests across the state, with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s OBC Morcha accusing the government of systematically excluding large sections of the Hindu population from reservation benefits.
On Friday, demonstrators gathered in front of administrative buildings in districts across Bengal, part of what party leaders described as a statewide agitation against revised OBC classification norms. At the forefront of the protest in South Dinajpur was the OBC Morcha’s state president, Subhendu Sarkar, accompanied by the district BJP president, Swarup Chowdhury, district secretary Bapi Sarkar, and other senior party figures.
According to Mr.Shubhendu Sarkar, recent policy changes have altered eligibility rules within the OBC category, resulting in many Hindu communities being shifted primarily into the “Category B” list, while members of a particular community have been placed under the more advantageous “Category A.” The BJP alleges that this reclassification has led to disproportionate exclusion and reflects politically motivated decision-making by the state government.
“This is not an administrative correction; it is a deliberate reshaping of social justice,” Mr.Subhendu Sarkar said, asserting that the new rules undermine the principle of equitable reservation. He added that the protests were being held simultaneously in every district to draw attention to what the party calls a deepening imbalance in welfare policy.
State officials have yet to issue a detailed response to the allegations, but the dispute has sharpened political fault lines around identity, reservation, and governance — issues that are expected to loom large as West Bengal moves closer to the 2026 Assembly elections.As debates over social categorization intensify, the OBC framework has emerged as a new flashpoint in Bengal’s already polarized political landscape, signaling that questions of representation and equity will remain central to the state’s evolving political narrative.
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