38 Muslim sub-castes in Uttar Pradesh’s OBC quota, Yogi govt mulling a change
The OBC list in Uttar Pradesh was last updated in 2002 after which no new castes have been added to or deleted from the list
The issue of extending Other Backward Classes (OBC) reservation to Muslims is currently a hot topic, especially with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) strongly against it.

In Uttar Pradesh, a state ruled by the BJP, 38 Muslim sub-castes have been receiving OBC quota benefits for many decades with nobody having raised any question over the same till now.
A recent Calcutta high court order striking down the OBC status to several classes, including Muslims, in West Bengal, has only provided additional ammunition to the BJP to attack the Opposition’s alleged politics of minority appeasement by giving OBC quota to Muslims.
Welcoming the Calcutta high court order, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath recently stated that reservation based on religion went against the Constitution. He also condemned his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee for not honouring the court’s decree.
Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also seen repeatedly warning in his poll speeches the INDIA bloc, chiefly the Congress, against any bid to extend OBC quota to Muslims if comes to power at the Centre.
In Uttar Pradesh, 21 socially and educationally backward Muslim sub-castes started getting the OBC quota benefits when the OBC reservation came into being in the state in 1977.
“A total of 55 castes were identified eligible for the OBC quota in U.P. in 1977. The number increased after the Mandal Commission and at present there are 79 OBC castes listed as socially and educationally backward, enjoying the quota benefits in government jobs, in admissions in educational institutes etc,” a senior official of the UP State Commission for Backward Classes said.
“And 38 of the 79 castes listed as OBCs in U.P. are sub-castes among Muslims and they are getting all the benefits available under the OBC quota,” he added.
The OBC list, according to him, was last updated in 2002 after which no new castes have been added to or deleted from the list.
Some of the Muslim sub-castes mentioned in the Uttar Pradesh Extra-Ordinary Gazette of August 31, 2002 are Kasgar, Qassab, Qureshi, Chak, Teli Makik, Darji, Idrisi, Faqir, Saifi, Salmani, Hazzam, Sakka/Bhishti, Abbasi, Sheikh Sarwari, Mochi, Moim, Ansar, Naddaf, Mansuri and Muslim Kayastha.
The basis of inclusion of a caste in the OBC schedule is social and educational backwardness irrespective of the religion a caste may belong to.
“The words Hindu or Muslim have not been used in the Constitution for identification of OBCs and granting quota benefits to them. The social and educational backwardness are the sole criteria,” the official said.
“And going by this legal aspect, we see nothing wrong with the inclusion of Muslim sub-castes in the OBC list in UP,” he said.
Amid the countrywide debate, the Uttar Pradesh government has given indications for reviewing the OBC reservation available to Muslims in the state, arguing that Muslims were not entitled to OBC quota under the law.
“Certainly, we would like to review the status of OBC reservation for Muslims in UP and then take a call accordingly,” minister of state for welfare of backward classes Narendra Kashyap said to HT.
“It has to be examined whether the OBC quota to Muslims was extended as per the recommendations of the Mandal Commission or the governments of the day did it on their own,” he added.
Deputy chief minister Keshav Maurya also said on Friday that the U.P. government will scrutinise the reservation in the OBC category provided to Muslims in the state as quota on the basis of religion, he argued, was not permissible under the Constitution.
