T. Chiranjeevulu, IAS (Ret) . Founder President BCIF( BC Intellectuals Forum) Recently, some BJP leaders have been commenting that "reservations are being given to Muslims on a religious basis, which is against the spirit of the Constitution." First, one thing must be made clear — The Indian Constitution does not permit religious-based reservations. That is a fact. However, the same Constitution used the broad term "Backward Classes." This term is not limited to caste alone, nor is it restricted to any single religion. The Constitution provides the opportunity to identify socially and educationally backward sections within any religion as BCs (Backward Classes). The Indra Sawhney Judgment — A Clear Directive In the Indra Sawhney (1992) judgment, delivered in the context of the Mandal Commission's implementation, a 9-judge Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court clarified a crucial point — Backward Classes is a classification that trans...