RJD’s ‘Ambedkar pe Charcha’ on importance of Constitution reaches village level

The programme was launched on April 14 as part of its drive to reach out to the people to highlight the party’s ideological fight against the BJP and alleged attempts to dilute the tenets of the Constitution, party leaders aware of the matter said

In the run-up to the parliamentary polls, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in Bihar is holding an interactive programme– “Ambedhkar Pe Charcha’’, at the village level to reach out to rural poor and marginalised sections of the society, according to party insiders.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav (File Photo)

According to party leaders, the gathering is being undertaken to make people aware of ‘threat to the Constitution of India’ under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led government at the Centre.

The programme was launched on April 14 as part of its drive to reach out to the people to highlight the party’s ideological fight against the BJP and alleged attempts to dilute the tenets of the Constitution, party leaders aware of the matter said.

Party leaders said that the sustainability of the programme has come as a surprise as it reached the village level with the support from rural youths who are volunteering and holding sessions on their own.

State spokesperson of RJD, Chiitranjan Gagan said, “Ambedkar pe Charcha is aimed at highlighting the contribution of Dr B R Ambedkar in empowering weaker sections and the importance of the Indian Constitution in safeguarding the rights and liberties of common citizens, especially those from marginalised sections.

“The programme, initially held at the state and sub-divisional level, has percolated down to the village level following a huge public response with people from marginalised and rural poor, including scheduled castes volunteering to hold sessions,” said Gagan.

RJD earlier this year, ahead of the launch of the programme, had conducted a three-day workshop for its party leaders on the strategy to be adopted for spreading the party’s message ahead of the 2024 parliamentary polls next year.

The programme launched on the birth anniversary of Dr Ambedkar, was first held at the state level in Patna. It was later held at the block headquarters level in all 500-plus blocks and subsequently, reached the Panchayat level.

So far, the gatherings have been held in over 8,000 Panchayats till July 7.

In the last two months, the programme has percolated to the village level with party supporters and locals of villages acting as volunteers, leaders claimed. “We have already held over 45,000 meetings at state, sub-divisional, blocks, Panchayats and villages. We target covering all revenue villages in the state and it will be done in by the next,” said another RJD leader.

Party leaders claimed the programme having a catchy tagline has come in handy as an interactive event because of two factors– the party has been able to send across its point that the Constitution has been under attack and weakened by the BJP government and secondly, how the legacy of Dr Ambedkar could be wiped out if the Constitution is changed.

“By October end, we will have the target of covering all 50,000 villages,” said Shyam Rajak, a senior party leader.

“Of course, the programme is giving us an opportunity to consolidate and reach out to Dalits and EBCs, who account for a huge number of votes in the state with having their presence in all 40 parliamentary seats. We also mobilised our cadres and taking the programme to the village level is strengthening our base,” Rajak said.

“Women and youths from weaker sections, including from the Dalit community, have shown spontaneous response to the programme as our logic that a weak Constitution is detrimental to the interests of women from marginalised sections, education of poorer section has struck a chord,” he added.

Party leaders aware of the development said that the RJD has added some more elements to the programme by emphasizing that the BJP’s comeback ‘would not be good for democracy and social justice’ as there was a lurking threat to the Constitution of India.

Reacting to this, BJP state vice president Bhim Singh said, “The RJD is making all false claims. First of all, changing the Constitution is not possible. There are already set parliamentary procedures for bringing any amendment and there is a Supreme Court ruling that basic tenets of the Constitution cannot be changed. The RJD is doing such things only to misguide people and spread false narrative against BJP,” said Singh.

He further said that the RJD does not have the organisational wherewithal to hold events at such big levels.