MK Stalin supports "unconstitutional" use of reservation by Converts, ask TVK to challenge SC

 

In a social media post, Stalin said social backwardness did not disappear with religious conversion and argued that denying reservation based on religion would amount to social injustice.In a bid to appease his vote bank he also urged the state government to pursue efforts to extend reservation to Dalits, who convert to Christianity, through constitutional amendments.

 

 

 

“Only this will uphold social justice. Denying reservation on the grounds of religious conversion is against social justice,” Stalin said.

 

Despite the constitutional framework governing caste-based reservation, as envisaged by Babasaheb Ambedkar, DMK chief M.K. Stalin sought to justify his argument, stating, “Social backwardness does not arise in a day or a generation. It is the result of a social system built over thousands of years. Conversion to another religion does not erase it.”

 

 

 

The Supreme Court earlier on Wednesday upheld the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court’s June 25, 2026, order striking down the Tamil Nadu government’s March 2024 order that extended Backward Class Muslim (BC(M)) reservation eligibility to eligible converts from BC, MBC, Denotified Communities and Scheduled Castes.

 

A Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Shree Chandrashekhar observed that backwardness experienced in a person’s former social order cannot, by itself, be carried forward to confer membership of a different notified backward-class community after conversion.

 

The court further clarified that conversion to a non-Hindu social order does not automatically establish membership of any particular backward-class community. A person’s pre-conversion caste or community status cannot simply be transferred to a different notified community in the post-conversion social order.

  

 

The Tamil Nadu government issued Government Order (Ms.) No. 31 on March 9, 2024, following a recommendation by the Tamil Nadu Backward Classes Commission. The order provided for eligible converts from the specified categories to be treated as Backward Class Muslims for reservation purposes.

 

The move was intended to protect people from socially and educationally backward backgrounds from losing access to reservation benefits solely because they had converted to Islam.

 

The dispute arose after Sameer Ahamed, who was born into a Hindu family and converted to Islam in 2015, sought a community certificate identifying him as belonging to the Muslim Lebbai community. His conversion was notified through a Gazette notification in 2016.

 

After the revenue authorities rejected his application, he approached the Madras High Court. On June 25, 2026, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court struck down the State government’s March 2024 order.