Pasmanda Muslims may be counted as OBCs in caste census: Report

Pasmanda Muslims might be included in the OBC category in the upcoming enumeration of castes to be done along with the nationwide census. At present, Muslims have been included as a separate and single bloc in all the censuses undertaken by the government, including the last one in 2011. 

On Wednesday, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs (CCPA) decided that caste enumeration will be conducted along with the national census instead of surveys that are conducted by states. 

"Pasmanda Muslims will be given their due share in the national caste census," a senior BJP leader told The Indian Express.

Citing the Mandal Commission recommendations, BJP OBC Morcha's national president K Laxman said that some groups among Muslims are included in the state and the Central list of Backward Classes. 

To explain his point further, he made a distinction between the caste surveys done in Bihar and Telangana, both of which included Pasmanda Muslims among the backward classes. He argued that national enumeration cannot be “as haphazard as was done in the Telangana caste survey". 

In Telangana, around 81 per cent of the Muslim population was found to be Pasmanda. 

He accused the Telangana government of "trying to appease Muslims" by categorising many of them as Pasmanda Muslims, while adding that Muslims historically ruled Hyderabad. "How can rulers be OBCs?" he asked. 

In contrast, he claimed that the Bihar caste survey put Pasmandas at 73 per cent of the Muslim population and was more of "an example to emulate". 

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

Another leader said Pasmanda Muslims are already included in some state lists for reservation, while adding that the Mapilas are OBCs in Kerala. "But among the Muslim population in Kerala, we don’t have figures on the number of Mapilas as Muslims have been considered a single backward bloc,” the leader added.

A Pasmanda Muslim activist emphasised that Ashraf Muslims, considered the elite, and Pasmanda Muslims, including Ajiafs (Backward Muslims) and Arzals (Dalit Muslims), should not be grouped. 

He pointed out that a caste census will highlight these differences, noting that the term "Pasmanda" refers primarily to Backward Class Muslims in India who are disadvantaged due to their socio-economic status.