The Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam (TMMK), led by its president M.H. Jawahirullah, organised a protest along with party cadre against the recent judgment of the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court that quashed a 2024 Tamil Nadu Government Order permitting Other Backward Class (OBC) individuals who convert to Islam to avail reservation under the Backward Class Muslims (BCM) category in government employment and higher education admissions, as reported in The Hindu.
As part of the agitation, the TMMK organised a condemnation protest in Tenkasi district on 30 June 2026 at 4:00 p.m., with party posters announcing that the demonstration was being held against the judgment delivered by Justice GR Swaminathan. The protest was organised under the leadership of TMMK Thenkasi district president A. Karuppaiah Muhammed, with State General Secretary S. Haider Ali, M. Abdul Rahman, M. Salam, and M. Muhammed Basha among those scheduled to participate and address the gathering.
“நீதிமன்றத் தீர்ப்புகளில்
உடன்பாடு இல்லையெனில்,
சட்டப்படி மேல்முறையீடு
செய்ய வழி உள்ளது.அதைவிடுத்து, நீதிபதியின்
தனிப்பட்ட புகைப்படங்களை
வைத்து சுவரொட்டிகள்
ஒட்டுவதும்,அவதூறுகளைப்
பரப்புவதும் அநாகரிகமானது;நீதிபதி #ஜி_ஆர்_சுவாமிநாதன்
அவர்களுக்கு மத்திய அரசு
உடனடியாக… pic.twitter.com/unnQOKeRKx— 𓄂𖤍Bhairavi Nachiyar𖤍 பாண்டிய நாட்டு இளவரசி 𓄂 (@Bhairavinachiya) July 2, 2026
The protest was held in response to the court’s decision setting aside the government order issued by the previous DMK government.
Addressing the protest, Jawahirullah appealed to the Tamil Nadu government and Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay to initiate legal measures to overturn the High Court’s verdict.
He stated that the previous DMK government had extended BCM reservation benefits to persons belonging to the Backward Classes who converted to Islam and alleged that the High Court’s judgment had now withdrawn those benefits.
Jawahirullah further said that the case before the court arose after a resident of Thoothukudi sought the issuance of a BCM community certificate but was denied one by the authorities.
According to him, the court could have confined its decision to directing the Tahsildar either to issue the certificate or to clarify whether such a direction could legally be granted. Instead, he contended that the judgment relied on a 1951 precedent despite several subsequent judicial decisions which, according to him, had reaffirmed the eligibility of converted Muslims to be recognised under the BCM category.
The TMMK maintained that the judgment would adversely affect reservation benefits available to converted Muslims from Other Backward Class communities and urged the State government to challenge the ruling before a higher judicial forum.
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