Caste census: OBC tag likely for Pasmanda Muslims

IN THE ENUMERATION of castes to be done in the forthcoming Census, as announced by the government Wednesday, Pasmanda Muslims as a whole may figure in the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) category.

- NIKHILA HENRY

"Pasmanda Muslims will be given their due share in the national caste census," said a senior BJP leader. Leaders of the BJP Minority Morcha and OBC Morcha confirmed the same.

"As per the Mandal Commission recommendations, some groups among Muslims are included in the state and Central list of Backward Classes. These Muslims will be enumerated as such in the caste census (among OBCs)," KLaxman, the national president of the BJP's OBC Morcha, told The Indian Express.

The national president of the BJP Minority Morcha, Jamal Siddiqui, said: "Pasmanda Muslims too are citizens of this country. So they will be enumerated as per their backwardness in the caste census."

So far, all Census undertaken by the government, including the last one in 2011, included Muslims as a separate, single bloc.

The move is significant as the BJP, which is accused of being anti-minority, has been wooing Pasmanda Muslims, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading the way. Enumerating them as OBCs, entitles them to the quota for OBCs.