At present, there are 12 Muslim communities under the OBC and the state government plans to add another 28, thus aiming to provide quota benefits to nearly half the Muslim population in Bengal without being hemmed in by the constitutional bar against religion-based reservations.

In Kerala, over 91 per cent of Muslim population is enjoy reservation benefits as OBCs and the Left Front government is keen to stem the flight of Muslim votes to the Trinamool Congress over the past two years.

“Half of the 71 per cent of Hindus in the state are covered under reservation as SC/ST, but only two per cent of Muslims, who form 25 per cent of the population, are covered under the OBC. I am all for reservation for Muslims but there is a constitutional bar on this matter. Therefore, we are finding other ways to help them out,” said state’s Minority Development Minister Abdus Sattar.

“We are increasing the number of communities under the OBC to 40 from 12 and are working towards identifying such communities. We will place the matter with the state government with in the next five or six months. Then the state government will publish a gazette notification,” said Syed Masudal Hussain, member of West Bengal Backward Classes Commission, who is entrusted with the job.

Hussain said at present communities like Ansaris (weavers), Qureshis (butchers) are among the 12 Muslim communities under OBC reservation. But now Muslim communities like Beldar (grave diggers), Abdal (sweepers), Mahaldar (fishermen), Kahar (palanquin bearers) and many others will come into the fold of reservation through the OBC quota.

“We will increase the reservations for Muslims to 10 per cent, which is less than half their population in the state. Such initiatives have been taken in Kerala. It is sad that Hindus got the benefit of reservation in one community (being SC or ST), but Muslims in the same community remained in the general category,” Hussain added.

CPM leaders are worried about their image among the Muslim voters, who switched sides to back Mamata Banerjee’s party both in the panchayat as well as Lok Sabha polls. “There was a negative image portrayed to the Muslim community in Bengal after Nandigram and cases like the death of Rizwanur Rehman. It is true we lost a large share of Muslim vote bank. Now we feel we must do something for the Muslims immediately and this initiative is a part of it. As a party we are not against reservation for Muslims, but it will take a lot of time since there is a constitutional bar,” said a senior CPM leader.

Meanwhile, Siddiqullah Choudhury, who heads Jamiat-e-Ulema Hind, today announced state-wide agitations including ‘jail bharo andolan” to press for the demand for reservations.

Hitting out at the Centre as well as the state government, Choudhury, a former ally of Mamata Banerjee, said: “No one, neither the Central government nor its allies here, or the CPM-led state government did anything for the Muslims who are poor and uneducated in Bengal. In Kerala, 99.1 per cent of Muslims have been brought under the OBC and given reservation. Why cannot they do it here?”