HC bench that gave protection to Suvendu took away rights of OBC: Trinamool Congress

Kolkata: Following the Calcutta High Court’s order cancelling all Other Backward Classes (OBC) certificates issued by the state government after 2010, Trinamool Congress (TMC) has upped the ante in its criticism against the BJP government at the Centre and at one of the judges of the Division Bench of the court.

After the High Court order, TMC’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said that a two-judge bench almost removed the reservation of OBCs by cancelling all caste certificates. He told the people that if before coming to power the BJP is doing such things then one can only imagine what will happen when they come to power. “Giving one vote to BJP will amount to curtailing one’s own rights,” he said.

Banerjee also said: “Yesterday, Calcutta HC in its order scrapped certificates for the OBC brothers & sisters. The same bench of a judge who gave protection to Suvendu Adhikari took away the rights of our OBC brothers and sisters. It’s been 24 hours since the said MLA has not given a single reaction. Those who fear to stand for people and have sold their spines to Delhi can’t work for your development ever or stand with people in tough times.” Banerjee, in his campaigns, has alleged that if the BJP comes to power, it will implement the Uniform Civil Code which will take away the rights of SC and ST communities.

On Thursday, Trinamool’s Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose wrote on X: “Fun fact: the Calcutta High Court judge who cancelled OBC certificates in Bengal is the same judge who gave blanket immunity in criminal cases to the @BJP4India’s Suvendu Adhikari. Unprecedented in India that an individual should be granted immunity from the law. One Calcutta HC judge has already admitted his lifelong ties to the@RSSorg.”

Another leader Chandrima Bhattacharya wrote on X: “PM Modi’s hypocritical double-speak on OBC reservation is quite glaring! On one hand, he praises OBC reservation in Gujarat and on the other, he lauds the HC’s decision of cancelling 5 lakh OBC certificates in Bengal. We reject such bangla-birodhi politics of BJP!”

Trinamool Congress wrote on X: “A Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court, working hand-in-glove with @BJP4India, scrapped all OBC certificates issued in Bengal since 2011. Shri@abhishekaitc strongly condemned the judgement, highlighting the Tapashili/OBC-Birodhi mindset of BJP!”