Syed Ali Mujtaba
MUSLIM OBCs constitute about 10.08 % of Telangana’s population, revealed the caste census report tabled in the Telangana state assembly on February 4, 2025. With this socio-economic survey hopes are being raised among the Muslims that will be getting more than 4 percent reservation that is currently in place in Telangana.
The caste census in Telangana revealed that Muslims constitute a total of 12.56% of the population in the state out of which 10.08 belong to the OBC. So only, 2.48 % of the Muslim population in Telangana is out of the preview of the OBC status.
This is surprising because the number of Muslims in the OBC list so far has been speculated. Now, when the caste census is out, it suggests that there is a large number of Muslims in Telangana that matches the poverty levels of the OBC category.
The broad percentiles of the Telangana survey show that non-Muslim Other Backward Classes (OBCs) constitute 46.25%. The Scheduled Castes constitute 17.43% and Scheduled Tribe 10.45%. Non-Muslim general castes (Other Castes) are at 13.31%, Muslims at 12.56 %, and others.
The Telangana caste survey has exploded the myth that Muslims are not a religious group alone but a caste group as well. The caste count of Muslims makes them eligible for reservation benefits in education and employment at par with other OBC counterparts.
There is a subtext in the caste survey that concerns Muslims’ reservations. A legal battle is going on in the Supreme Court to give ST & ST benefits to those Muslims who converted from these two categories but so far have been denied the status that their Hindu counterparts enjoy.
The Sachar Commission report of 2006 and the Raghunath Mishra Commission report of 2007 have recommended granting SC & ST reservations to the Muslims because their socio-economic condition has become worse than their counterparts after the reservation was given to the Hindu scheduled castes. The commission argues that conversion has not changed the socioeconomic condition of the Muslim community and they are entitled to affirmative action.
BJPs’ opposition to the reservation to Muslims
The BJP government has opposed any reservation being given to the Muslims, taking the constitutional cover that there is no place for the religious-based reservation in India.
The catch is, that the BJP considers OBC Muslims under the category of religious denomination while it considers OBC Hindus under the caste denomination of the caste category. As such, the BJP approves reservation to the OBC Hindus, but disapproves the same to the OBC Muslims, saying, Muslims are not OBCs but are a religious entity.
This kind of vocal chicanery by the BJP in the public discourse, aided and abetted by the Sangh Parivar-controlled media has built the narrative that Muslims are not eligible for reservation benefits because they are outcasts. At the same time, Hindus are eligible because they form part of the ‘varna system’, even though it’s based on the inequality of the castes.
This matter is sub-judice in the Supreme Court, which favors the socio-economic theory and debunks the religious argument dished out by the BJP.
History of reservation in India
The entire complexity of the OBC reservation debate came into the public domain when the Mandal Commission submitted its report in 1980. The Mandal Commission was set up to ascertain the percentage of OBC Hindus in the Indian social system.
The National Front government led by V.P. Singh on August 7 1990 accepted the report that’s been neglected for 10 years. The National Front government on 31st December 1990 declared that it would provide 27 percent reservations to “socially and educationally OBC groups” for jobs in central services and the public undertaking.
The Mandal Commission report did recommend some Muslim OBC caste to be given reservation but it hardly brought any solace to the Muslims. As a result, the Hindu OBC got their reservation benefits out of the Mandal Commission but Muslim OBCs were left in the lurch.
The UPA government under Manmohan Singh did a half-hearted socio-economic caste survey along with the decadal national census in 2011. However, this data was never published because of the stiff resistance from the upper-caste Hindus.
The Modi government after coming to power in 2014 dumped the caste data collected in 2011. Subsequently, the BJP government showed total indifference to the OBC caste census.
A twist in the tale in the reservation debate came when the Narendra Modi government gave an additional 10% reservation to the economically weaker section among the upper caste Hindus because the BJP enjoyed a majority in the Parliament. The BJP government implemented it in the All India Services.
This pushed the reservation limits to 62%. (27+12+12 +10 = 62%). This was challenged in the Supreme Court, but the Apex Court sided with the government on the EWS reservation issue. The caste debate led the Modi government to bring an amendment in the Parliament and gave the state governments the authority to conduct caste surveys if deemed necessary.
Role of the Supreme Court in the Reservation Debate
The Supreme Court has rescinded its ruling of a 27% cap of reservation benefits to the OBCS and granted the 10 % reservation to EWS caste Hindus. This is the third of kind of ruling by the Apex Court favoring the government, the other being Babri Masjid and Article 370.
In the post-Mandal decades the OBCs have been demanding a caste census because once the caste data is out, the Supreme Court’s cap of 27% reservation can be challenged. The Modi government’s move to give a 10 percent reservation to the EWS to the castes Hindus has strengthened the OBC case.
Now the OBC group is training its guns at the Supreme Court to lift the 27% cap and push the figures of reservation according to the socioeconomic status that’s brought out through the caste census. They argue that if the EWS reservation can be given to the general caste Hindus, why can’t it be given to the OBC Hindus?
Implications of the Caste Survey
This state-level caste survey has serious implications for national politics. The caste census has put the BJP government on a spot. They have to convince their OBC vote bank that they are Hindus first and the OBC last!
The BJP so far has done it successfully taking refuge on the Hindutva plank. It has won a substantial number of seats due to the OBC support. But, after the caste census can the saffron party reign in the OBC and make them vote for protecting the Hindu identity?
The BJP central leadership has issued a diktat that there will be no caste census in the BJP-ruled states. This means the OBC group has to remain bereft from the reservation benefits in the ‘Cow-Belt.’ So, how the reservation debate is going to fang up without the caste census in the BJP-ruled states needs to be watched.
One thing is clear from the caste census, that it has broken the myth of the invincibility of the Hindutva politics of the BJP. Now the saffron party has to deal with a more radical pro-OBC agenda of the socio-economic backward caste groups in India. The caste census has opened from the cane of worms and that will become the key anchor in the fight against the Hindutva-dominated politics in India.
The caste census has opened a new political discourse in the country. The OBC numbers in the caste census have galvanized a new political equation and it remains to be seen how the BJP will accommodate the aspirations of the OBC in the Hindutva paradigm.
As far as Muslims are concerned, their inclusion in the OBC list is going to give a boost to their socio-economic development. Muslims have always been demanding for their caste survey and this has come out vividly in the surveys in Bihar and Telangana. Now they are entitled to the reservation benefits after being included in the OBC list.
The immediate impact of the caste census is, that the state governments will have to take the data to their planning commission and get them implemented giving reservations based on the socio-economic status revealed in the caste census.
If that is what is going to happen then the caste census in the entire country may bring smiles on the faces of the Muslims which otherwise are a despondent lot.
——–
Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba2007@gmail.com
