The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday cancelled Other Backward Classes certificates issued in Bengal since 2010 under the Trinamool Congress government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the high court’s verdict a ‘slap to the Khan Market gang’.
Khan Market is a posh shopping centre in South Delhi. "Khan Market gang" is a phrase used by the BJP and PM Modi to mock their political adversaries .
He said the vote bank politics and the politics of appeasement was “crossing every limit”.
“Aaj court ne tamacha maara hai, yeh Khan Market gang paap ke bhagidar hai (Today court has given a huge slap, this Khan Market is responsible for the sin),” PM Modi said.
“They say that Muslims have the first right on the country's resources. These people are continuously giving government lands to the Waqf Board and asking for votes in return. These people want to reserve 15 per cent of the country's budget for minorities. They also want to give loans from banks and government tender based on religion,” he added.
He accused the Opposition of opposing CAA and laws against triple talaq to please their vote bank.
“That is why they have come together to form INDI alliance,” PM Modi said.
He added, “The Khan Market gang has only one way now: Every time Modi uses ‘Muslim’, label it as communal politics. I am exposing the communal politics of the Opposition and then their entire ecosystem shouts ‘Modi is doing Hindu-Muslim politics’. “
Calcutta High Court’s verdict
The high court bench termed the OBC list prepared after 2010 as “illegal” and scrapped all certificates issued since then.
The West Bengal Backward Classes (Other than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) (Reservation of Vacancies in Services and Posts) Act, 2012 section 2H, 5, 6 and Section 16 and Schedule I and III were struck down by high court as 'unconstitutional'.
The court, however, clarified that the order will not affect the services of citizens of the ejected classes, who are already in service or have been benefitted by reservation or have succeeded in any selection process of the state.
