The West Bengal Public Safety and Control of Anti-Social Activities Bill, 2026, was passed by the state Assembly on Monday with 176 members voting in favour of the Bill and 42 against it. The Bill includes a stringent provision of preventive detention for up to 12 months without trial.Speaking on the Bill, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said, “It is aimed at preventing riots and other forms of violence and will be used against anti-social elements.”Asserting that the legislation would not be misused, the CM said several states/UTs – including Maharashtra, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand – had already implemented comparable legislation.Asserting that the new legislation was specifically aimed at tackling goons, the CM said the legislation was aimed at addressing loopholes in the existing laws and ensure accountability for those involved in violence and the destruction of property.Adhikari said that existing laws did not have the provision to recover the cost for property destruction from those involved in violence, directly or otherwise. He added that the new law was not just about sending people to jail, but also about seizing their movable and immovable assets. He also slammed the previous TMC government, accusing it of failing to take action against anti-social elements.Meanwhile, the TMC has raised objection to various provisions of the Bill. Party leader Kunal Ghosh alleged that the legislation was contrary to constitutional rights and contained significant loopholes. He said that while everyone supported action against “goonda culture”, existing legal provisions under the IPC, CrPC and the new criminal laws had already empowered the police and investigating agencies to act against offenders. He further claimed that the government was using its legislative majority to pass the Bill despite concerns over its provisions.Talking about the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bill, Adhikari said that a draft Bill would be placed before the state Cabinet on July 2 and discussed. Later, it would be tabled in the Assembly. The draft committee is being headed by former Supreme Court Judge Ranjana Desai. Notably, Justice Desai has been roped in by all BJP-ruled states for the UCC draft committee.OBC reservation revised from 17% to 7%The West Bengal Assembly also passed two more Bills — the West Bengal Commission for Backward Classes (Amendment) Bill, 2026, and the West Bengal Classes (Other Than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) (Reservation of Vacancies and Posts) (Amendment) Bill, 2026. Some MLAs of the rebel faction of the TMC staged a walkout when the Bills were passed.With the passage of the Bills, the OBC reservation structure has been revised from 17% to 7% in line with the Calcutta High Court directives, along with a reorganisation of OBC categories.