Congress 10-Point Programme to Woo Backward Classes, Attacks Modi’s Foreign Policy

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Sept 24: The Congress on Wednesday announced a 10-point programme focused on education and employment reservation for the Extremely Backward Classes (EBC) ahead of the Bihar assembly elections due by November.

It promised immediate implementation if it formed the government as part of the RJD-led Bihar alliance under the INDIA bloc umbrella.

The decision was taken at the extended Congress Working Committee meeting held at Sadaqat Ashram, the party head office in Patna. The CWC also adopted another resolution conveying that it was “profoundly worried by collapse of India’s foreign policy.” The resolution stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “huglomacy” has backfired, leaving India “diplomatically isolated and unable to secure its national interests.”

“The BJP-RSS’s relentless attacks on the Constitution and the Republic have continued unabated. The fundamental principles of our democracy — liberty, equality, fraternity, and justice — are being demolished brick by brick,” the party observed in its resolution.

With an eye on the upcoming polls, the party passed a series of resolutions in the crucial meeting attended by permanent and special invitees, the party’s Chief Ministers, Pradesh Congress Committee presidents and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leaders.

Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said at the release of the resolution that “During the 15-day “Voter Adhikar Yatra” we went to different districts of Bihar and told the youth that the Constitution is being attacked. Not just in Bihar, but in the entire nation, citizens’ rights are being snatched away.”

He added, “In Parliament, I said two things in front of PM Modi. First, there will be a caste based census in the entire nation; second, we will bring down the 50% reservation wall.” While a caste census has since been announced by the Modi government during the coming population census operation, the 50% cap on reservation is mandated by courts.

As the first of ten points, the Congress promised an ‘Extremely Backward Classes Atrocities Prevention Act’, specifically for the EBCs, apparently along the lines of similar laws already in place nationwide for the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (SC/ST).

Also, it promised reservation in all private educational institutions of the state under Article 15(5). This constitutional provision allows governments to make special provisions for advancement of socially and educationally backward classes of citizens, Scheduled Castes, and Scheduled Tribes concerning their admission to educational institutions.

Reservation for EBCs will be increased to 30% in panchayats and urban local bodies from the current 20%, it added.

It promised to remove the 50 per cent reservation cap and move towards quotas as per proportion of population. A law will be passed for this by the state legislature, and be sent to the central government for inclusion in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution. This schedule of the Constitution contains a list of central and state laws that are essentially immune from judicial review.

The Congress said the concept of ‘Not Found Suitable’ (NFS) in the selection process for appointments will be declared illegal. There have been allegations by SCs and other backward groups that posts kept for them are not filled by saying none of the candidates was suitable.

Further, all matters related to under- or over-inclusion on the list of Extremely Backward Classes will be resolved by forming a committee, the Congress promise letter said.

It also promised to landless individuals from the EBC, SC, ST, and BC categories three decimals of residential land in urban areas or five decimals in rural areas, as applicable. Under the Right to Education Act 2010 passed by the then Congress-led UPA government, of the seats already in private schools, half will be kept for EBC, SC, ST, and other backward classes, the party resolution said.

In government contracts worth up to ₹25 crore, a provision of 50% reservation will be made for these communities, it added. To govern the implementation, a high-powered Reservation Regulatory Authority will be established, it added, and that any changes to the reservation list of castes will only be possible with the permission of the legislature. In a state deeply influenced by caste among other identity markers, the Congress pitch is in line with Rahul Gandhi’s focus on the politics of “social justice” since before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Its senior partner in the state, the RJD founded by Lalu Prasad Yadav and currently led by Tejashwi Yadav, is one of the prominent parties to have emerged out of similar politics for the backward classes over the past four decades.

On the vote theft allegations, the CWC said the roll revision in Bihar was yet another “dirty trick from BJP’s toolkit” to manipulate electoral rolls and cling on to power. It is a process designed to rob marginalised communities of their voting rights, it added. “‘Vote chori’, irregularities in our electoral rolls have shaken public belief in very foundations of our democracy,” the resolution read.

Reaffirming its commitment to the Constitution, the CWC said the Bihar election “will seal the fate” of “this corrupt, incompetent, and authoritarian government”. “We will stand strong against any attempts to undermine it. We will reclaim the Republic, restore the Constitution, and ensure justice, dignity and equality for all,” it said.

Further, on U.S. President Donald Trump’s continued claims of stopping the India-Pakistan conflict following the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, the Congress, in its resolution, said the Government refused to address it even as Mr Trump maintains that he used trade as bargaining chip to coerce India into halting Operation Sindoor.

In its statement on India’s economy, the resolution states that the Government has wreaked “economic devastation, even as it attempts to manipulate data to create the image of a booming economy.” The CWC expressed distress over the ongoing genocide of innocent civilians in Gaza. “India has always been a beacon of moral conscience and the champion of the postcolonial world — it has now shamefully been reduced to a silent spectator. Our foreign policy has now acquired a moral taint,” it said.