The Maharashtra government under the Mahayuti alliance quietly put an end to something that’s been hanging around like an unresolved argument for over a decade. They issued a Government Resolution (GR) from the Social Justice Department scrapping the 5% reservation that was once promised to certain backward sections of the Muslim community in government jobs, semi-government posts, and education.
Let’s be real: this wasn’t some active, working policy that suddenly got yanked away. Back in July 2014, right before assembly elections, the Congress-NCP government rushed through an ordinance giving 16% to Marathas and 5% to specific Muslim sub-groups they classified as socially and educationally backward under a new “Special Backward Category-A” (SBC-A). It was meant to help with things like college admissions and job quotas, but almost immediately, courts stepped in. The Bombay High Court put parts on hold, and the whole thing never really became permanent law — the ordinance lapsed, legal challenges piled up, and in practice, almost nobody actually benefited from it. No big flow of caste certificates, no major recruitment drives under this quota. It was basically in limbo.
So what the current BJP-led government did now is more like cleaning house: the GR cancels the old 2014 order, voids all related circulars, stops any new SBC-A certificates or validity claims, and makes it crystal clear that no more benefits will come through this route. Officials are framing it as tying up loose ends to match what the courts already decided long ago — no religion-based quota that pushes total reservations over constitutional limits, and no active implementation anyway.
The opposition, especially Congress folks, aren’t buying the “just housekeeping” line. They’ve called it out as unnecessary, politically motivated, and straight-up anti-minority. Some leaders said it’s sending a bad message to the community, even if the quota was dead in the water. Others pointed out that the Bombay High Court had actually upheld parts of it back in the day for about 50 specific Muslim communities, citing “extraordinary circumstances” for educational backwardness. But yeah, the bigger picture is that religion-specific reservations have always been a hot-button issue in India — the Constitution leans toward caste or class criteria, not faith alone.
For most people in the Muslim community in Maharashtra, honestly, this changes very little day-to-day because the benefits weren’t flowing anyway. But symbolically? It stings for some, and it gives the opposition fresh ammo to accuse the government of playing to a certain narrative.
The ruling side insists it’s about legal clarity and sticking to the rules, without touching other minority welfare schemes.
Reservation discussion in India are never simple — they’re about fairness, history, politics, and every so often just election math. This one feels like the final full stop on a chapter that started with big assurance in 2014 and ended with a quiet GR in 2026.
Sources:
Times of India
The Hindu
NDTV
Indian Express
Deccan Herald
Punekar News
New Indian Express
