Maharashtra Sets Up Panel to Study Backward Muslim Communities' Welfare

The Maharashtra government has constituted a committee to study the socio-economic and educational status of Pasmanda Muslims and other smaller Muslim communities. The panel will identify gaps in welfare delivery and recommend measures to improve access to government schemes.

The committee, headed by BJP leader Idris Multani, has been given one year to submit its report. According to a Government Resolution issued on June 29, the committee will examine educational indicators, employment, poverty, access to institutional credit, and reasons why existing welfare schemes have not adequately reached eligible beneficiaries.

This move is part of the BJP's national outreach to Pasmanda Muslims, marking a shift from treating Muslims as a single political constituency towards engaging socially and economically backward Muslim communities separately. The outreach gained prominence in July 2022 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged BJP workers to reach out to “deprived and downtrodden” sections among Muslims, particularly Pasmanda Muslims.

Pasmanda Muslims broadly refer to socially and educationally backward Muslim communities, many of whom belong to traditional artisan and occupational groups and are recognised as Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in Maharashtra. These include communities such as Ansaris, Qureshis, Pinjaris, Mansooris, Nadafs and Attars.

While Muslims constitute around 11.5 per cent of Maharashtra’s population, there is no official estimate of the Pasmanda population because neither the Census nor the state maintains caste-wise data for Muslims. Muslim OBC organisations estimate that 70-80 per cent of the state’s Muslim population belongs to backward communities.

This is not Maharashtra’s first exercise to study the condition of Muslims. In 2008, the Congress-NCP government constituted the Mahmood-ur-Rehman Committee, which submitted its report in 2013 recommending reservation for socially and educationally backward Muslims.

The absence of caste-wise data is a central challenge for the committee. Activists have questioned how the panel will identify beneficiaries and assess gaps in welfare delivery. Iqbal Ansari, national president of the All India Muslim OBC Organisation, welcomed the move but sought clarity on methodology.

However, some Muslim organisations have criticised the decision, arguing that the committee could deepen divisions within the community. The issue also carries political significance, as the BJP has been accused of using the outreach to counter perceptions of Muslim vote consolidation.