Ahead of the latest session of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) in Bihar on Wednesday, the party made a shoutout to the year 1940. It wasn't just flexing how old it is. But the message was for the now — tying into its ongoing narrative that the Constitution is “in danger”.
But why 1940 specifically, you'd wonder.
In a landmark session in 1940 in undivided Bihar, seven years before Independence, the Congress committed to forming a Constituent Assembly that eventually wrote the Constitution of India. Current Congress leaders stressed how the party remains committed to country's core lawbook since then, and how its opponents allegedly don't.
A dig at RSS, via 1940
Congress comms in-charge Jairam Ramesh posted on X: “It was at its Ramgarh session held in mid-March 1940 that the CWC passed its landmark resolution… The rest is, as they say, history – including the bitter opposition of the organisation now celebrating its centenary to the Constitution." The reference was to the RSS, the parent body of the ruling BJP.
On Wednesday in the CWC, Rahul Gandhi kept up with the message that the Constitution must be protected.
{{/usCountry}}On Wednesday in the CWC, Rahul Gandhi kept up with the message that the Constitution must be protected.
{{/usCountry}}He also said every caste or community would get its fair rights – “as envisaged in the Constitution” — and later promised special quotas for the Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) if the party's alliance wins the Bihar elections due in weeks.
Reminder of Congress fate too
The 1940 redux may also serve as a reminder, perhaps unintentional, of how much the party's fate has changed in those 85 years.
Bihar stands out as an example.
Once the preeminent force in the country — fighting against British rule and then shaping independent India — the Congress is now a junior partner struggling to be granted one-fourth of the 243 assembly seats to fight in its alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
Even the venue of the 1940 session, presided over by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, is now in Jharkhand as Bihar was bifurcated in 2000.
Constitution key theme at CWC 2025
About the 2025 CWC meet, former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar told reporters: "It was historic. How to make Congress stronger; stop this chain of dividing people in the society; to uplift Dalits, backward classes… all this was discussed."
"A detailed discussion was held especially on vote chori," Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, former deputy CM of Punjab, said.
Rahul Gandhi has pitched the alleged theft of votes by the BJP “in collusion with the Election Commission” as an attack on the Constitution.
The CWC said the BJP-led NDA regime of PM Narendra Modi is “systematically dismantling constitutional values”.
Again citing the Constitution, the party promised more reservation for the Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs). According to the 2023 Bihar Caste Survey, EBCs constitute 36% of the state's population, making them the largest single social group in Bihar.
In a state deeply influenced by caste among other markers of class, the Congress pitch is in line with Rahul Gandhi's focus on “social justice” and quotas since before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Rahul Gandhi sticks to narrative
Even in the 2024 campaign, the Congress pitched “danger to Constitution” — thus to reservation — as its primary charge against the BJP-led NDA government.
And it believes the narrative worked, because the party nearly doubled its seats to 99, though still far behind the 240 won by the BJP, which managed to cross the 272 majority mark with allies.
Rahul Gandhi is constantly seen carrying a pocket-sized copy of the Constitution, which he pulls out as a motif of his politics.
In that context, harking back to the 1940 session — where the framing of the Constitution was set in motion — ties in with its wider messaging. And with its hope of becoming the preeminent party of India once again.