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With an eye on EBCs, Rahul set to announce ‘Nyay Patra’ in Bihar
Rahul Gandhi will unveil support for Extremely Backward Classes in Congress' Bihar election manifesto, aiming to attract marginalized voters.
New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will announce a raft of sops for Extremely Backward Classes (EBC) in the party’s Nyay Patra (poll manifesto) for the upcoming Bihar assembly elections after the meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), setting the stage for the party’s renewed approach to woo voters from the marginalised section, said a party leader.
The EBC — which comprises 112 communities, constituting around 36% of Bihar’s population, according to the 2023 state caste survey report — is the largest social group in the state and plays a key role in deciding the fate of the elections. Although not a separate constitutional category like SC or ST, the EBC is often seen as a sub-group within the larger Other Backward Classes (OBC) category, created to identify the most deprived castes among the backward castes.
The Congress’ push to woo EBC voters comes amid the ruling BJP-JD(U) aiming to make social justice their key plank for the Bihar polls, slated for October-November this year.
The extended CWC, the party’s highest executive body, will meet at the party’s Bihar headquarters—Sadakat Ashram—in Patna on Wednesday and is likely to focus on raging political issues, including a plan for a pan-India campaign against vote theft.
A day before the CWC meeting, Gandhi linked unemployment with alleged vote theft. “…Now the situation is changing. India’s youth has realised that the real fight is not just for jobs, but against vote theft. Because as long as elections continue to be stolen, unemployment and corruption will continue to increase. Now the youth will tolerate neither job theft nor vote theft. The ultimate patriotism lies in freeing India from unemployment and vote theft,” the former Congress chief said in a post in Hindi on X.
Two senior leaders said the CWC is expected to discuss the vote-theft allegations, the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, the economic impact of the increased US tariff and H1B visa fee, and launch a new campaign attacking the JD(U)-BJP government in the state.
“…Today, as Bihar again faces a crossroads between the politics of hope, social justice and development on one side, and hatred, violence, and histrionic unemployment and destruction of the Constitution on the other, our CWC meeting is being held here to send a message to the people of Bihar about our commitment to Bihar’s welfare,” Congress general secretary KC Venugopal said in a post on X.
Claiming that Bihar has witnessed the BJP’s worst attempt at election rigging so far, Venugopal said that in response to the “hastily done, botched up SIR” as well as the “rampant” vote theft done by the BJP across India, the Voter Adhikar Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav and the INDIA bloc was able to “warn the people about the BJP’s nefarious ways and fight against their efforts to rig the upcoming election — just like they did in Haryana and Maharashtra.”
