PATNA – The Congress party convened an important meeting of its Working Committee (CWC) in Bihar on Wednesday. They used the meeting to connect their past to their current political struggle. Before the meeting, Jairam Ramesh, the party’s communications leader, talked about the important 1940 CWC conference in Ramgarh (now in Jharkhand) where the Constitution of an independent India was written. This historical reference helped the party’s main campaign message that the country’s main law book is “in danger.”
The Congress officially promised to set up a Constituent Assembly to write the Constitution at a meeting in 1940 led by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. The party wanted to present itself as the original defender of the Constitution by bringing up this historical event. At the same time, they wanted to criticize their opponents, especially the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the BJP, for allegedly having a “bitter opposition” to the Constitution’s adoption.
The Constitution and Caste: The Main Parts of Congress’s Plan
The CWC meeting in Bihar is scheduled well because the state assembly elections are coming up. If the Mahagathbandhan, the party that Rahul Gandhi is a part of, wins, they vowed to provide the Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) preferential quotas. The party’s “social justice” agenda, which gained support during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, is what this promise is based on.
Rahul Gandhi, who is often seen with a small copy of the Constitution in his pocket, said again that “envisaged in the Constitution,” every community would have its due rights. He also talked about the BJP’s alleged “vote theft,” which he called another attack on the country’s democratic values. The CWC voted a resolution saying that the NDA government, which is led by the BJP, is “systematically dismantling constitutional values.”
The conference also reminded everyone how much the party’s political prospects have altered. The Congress used to be the main group fighting for independence, but now it is a junior partner to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in Bihar, a state where the party used to be forceful.
The party is counting on the story that its support of the Constitution and the rights of marginalized groups helped it nearly treble its number of seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The Congress wants to become the most important political party in India again by connecting its current political stance to its historical constitutional duty.