By Ashhar Khan

Copyright deccanchronicle

New Delhi: The extended Congress Working Committee (CWC) which met in Patna on Wednesday, brought together the party’s top leadership to strategise ahead of the Bihar Assembly election. The CWC passed a resolution describing the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls as the “greatest threat” to democracy and another “dirty trick” from the BJP’s toolkit.During the meeting, the CWC passed two resolutions, including an appeal directed at the voters of Bihar. The CWC’s political resolution accused the BJP of manufacturing an elected majority through “stolen mandates and rigged voter lists,” calling such a government devoid of moral or political legitimacy. It added that without democratic accountability, the government is free of obligations to address unemployment, farmer distress, inflation, failing healthcare, poor education and crumbling infrastructure. In its resolutions, the CWC strongly condemned the BJP-RSS, accusing them of relentless attacks on the Constitution and saying the fundamental principles of Indian democracy were being demolished “brick by brick.” The CWC also criticised the BJP government for undermining social justice, asserting that reservations are being eroded by rampant privatisation. This was the party’s first post-Independence Working Committee meeting in Bihar. The Opposition further alleged that the government’s policy on Gaza had compromised India’s moral standing. In a political resolution, the CWC expressed “profound distress over the ongoing genocide of innocent civilians in Gaza” and said, “India has always been a beacon of moral conscience and the champion of the post-colonial world; it has now shamefully been reduced to a silent spectator. Our foreign policy has now acquired a moral taint.” Addressing a press conference after the meeting at Sadaqat Ashram, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said Rahul Gandhi would soon reveal more evidence on the alleged “vote chori,” comparing the forthcoming disclosures to “a hydrogen bomb,” a “mini hydrogen bomb” and a “plutonium bomb.” Ramesh added that the countdown for the NDA government had begun and predicted a Mahagathbandhan victory in Bihar within two months. Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi reached out to Bihar’s numerically powerful Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs), promising among other things a law protecting EBCs from atrocities on the model of the SC/ST Act, if the I.N.D.I.A. bloc came to power. He addressed the ‘Ati Pichhda Nyay Sankalp’ symposium shortly after the CWC meeting, joined by AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav and other allies. Gandhi unveiled 10 pledges (sankalp) for the EBCs, who, according to the Nitish Kumar government’s caste survey, make up 36 per cent of Bihar’s population. The promises include an “EBC Prevention of Atrocities Act,” increasing EBC quotas in local bodies from 20 per cent to 30 per cent, and reserving 50 per cent of government contracts (up to Rs 25 crore) and admissions to private educational institutions for SCs, STs, OBCs and EBCs. He also proposed allotting land, three decimals in urban areas and five decimals in rural areas, to landless families from deprived castes. Other commitments include scrapping the 50 per cent cap on reservations for deprived castes and eliminating the practice of declaring candidates “not found suitable,” which blocks filling reserved seats. Gandhi also proposed a high-powered Reservation Regulatory Authority and mandatory state legislature approval for any changes to the quota list. “These resolves reflect a vision based on discussions we have been holding with EBCs for quite some time,” he said. The BJP hit back, saying voters are wiser than political leaders and accusing Congress of trying to usurp leadership from its allies by convening the CWC in Bihar. The party also accused the Congress of using the caste census for minority appeasement, citing the Karnataka government’s census and alleging the addition of 26 new castes could undermine legitimate beneficiaries of reservations. BJP MP Sambit Patra mocked Gandhi’s promises, saying voters have heard similar pledges before and that “ultimately, nothing happens.” On Congress’s “plutonium bomb” remark, he said the “plutonium bomb will blast by the end of November when the Congress party will lose in Bihar,” adding that “all the bombs will blast together, hydrogen, atom and plutonium.”