ED glare pushes Congress back to save-Constitution plank; 4000 rallies planned

With its top leadership back in the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) crosshairs over the National Herald case, the Congress has decided to double down its attacks against the BJP-led central government with a renewed push for its “Save Constitution” narrative.

At a meeting of general secretaries, state in-charges and heads of the party’s frontal organisations, presided over by party president Mallikarjun Kharge, the party on Saturday (April 19) decided that between April 25 and May 30, it would organise over 4,200 “Save Constitution” rallies and public meetings at the state, district and assembly constituency levels.

The rallies will be preceded by a series of 40 press conferences, addressed by senior MPs, party functionaries, and spokespersons across state capitals and major cities, between April 21 and 24, to “counter the BJP’s disinformation” about the National Herald case. The party’s decision comes weeks after the ED named Congress Parliamentary Party chief Sonia Gandhi, Lok Sabha’s Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, and other party leaders in the National Herald case chargesheet.

Also read: Capital Beat: Could Sonia, Rahul face arrest in ED's National Herald case?

“Save Constitution” rallies on agenda

The Rouse Avenue Court in Delhi is expected to hear preliminary arguments by the ED’s counsel on the chargesheet, which the Congress has dubbed as a “lie sheet”, on April 25. There is no clarity yet on whether Sonia and Rahul would have to make a court appearance on April 25. The Congress has said neither the Gandhis nor any other leader of the party is yet aware of the contents of the chargesheet and that ED’s case was “not a legal case but a case that smacks of political vendetta, politics of persecution, intimidation and fear mongering”.

The April 25 hearing in the National Herald case will coincide with the Congress launching a series of “Save Constitution” rallies, during which party leaders are expected to lead a belligerent charge against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government for “once again unleashing central agencies for political vendetta” against the Gandhi family.

Plans till May-end

Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh informed reporters that the first batch of the “Save Constitution” rallies will be organised at the state level, mostly in capital cities, between April 25 and 30. The state-level “Save Constitution” rallies will be followed up with similarly themed rallies across nearly 800 districts of the country between May 3 and 10. Next, the party will organise Samvidhaan Bachao public meetings across all assembly constituencies in the country, numbering over 4500, from May 11 to 17.

Thereafter, from May 20 to 30, Congress leaders cutting across party ranks will conduct door-to-door campaigns at the district and village levels to “highlight the BJP’s continuing assaults on the Constitution”. During the door-to-door campaign, party leaders will also disseminate the resolution passed at the party’s recently concluded AICC Session in Ahmedabad that had slammed the saffron party and its central government on various fronts, including rising prices, spiralling unemployment, growing communal polarisation and social unrest.

Also read: ED action in National Herald case to protect nation’s assets from Gandhis: Goyal

Given the large number of rallies the party plans to organise within the short period of just over 30 days, sources said the participation of Congress’s leading troika of Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi in these gatherings would be decided based on their availability.

“In all likelihood, the CP (Congress president), Rahul and Priyanka will not be present together at most rallies... they may do a few together and then choose which states they want to go to so that every state-level rally has at least one of them participating; in case some states are left out, they could make up for it by attending the district-level rallies. The meetings at the assembly constituency level will largely be the responsibility of the state leadership, current and former MPs and MLAs, and district unit chiefs,” a leader involved with the campaign’s preparations told The Federal.

Why Constitution is back in focus

While the “misuse of central agencies” for political vendetta against BJP’s rivals, the Gandhis in particular, is expected to be cited ad nauseam in these rallies, it wouldn’t be the only issue on the agenda. With the Centre forced to hold back, until May 5, implementation of key Sections of the controversial Waqf (Amendment) Act following serious reservations expressed by the Supreme Court, the Congress plans to scorch the BJP with allegations that the legislation is “another attempt by the BJP to undermine the Constitution”.

The Congress wants to highlight that the Act “assaults not just the Muslims’ fundamental right to practise their religion but is a precursor to similar attacks on the religious freedom of all religious minorities”.

Also read: ‘SC responsible for inciting religious wars in country’: BJP MP Nishikant Dubey

The Supreme Court’s tough talk about the perceived unconstitutionality of some provisions of the new Waqf law, coupled with its recent landmark verdict laying down a timeline for Governors and even the President to grant assent to Bills referred to them by state Assemblies, has also opened a barrage of unfiltered criticism for the judiciary from the BJP and even Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar.

The Congress, sources said, believes this “calibrated smear campaign” against the current Chief Justice of India, Sanjiv Khanna (due to demit office on May 13), and the apex judiciary is another marker of the BJP’s “lack of faith in and respect for the Constitution” and would make for a key talking point at the “Save Constitution” rallies.

Congress sources told The Federal that the month-long campaign had become necessary as the robust public response the party and its INDIA bloc colleagues had received during the Lok Sabha polls to the “Save Constitution” narrative had “largely dissipated” over the past six months in the backdrop of the BJP’s decisive electoral resurgence in the Maharashtra and Haryana assembly polls.

Foundation for Bihar polls

“With the exception of Rahul Gandhi, who has consistently been highlighting at Samvidhaan Samman Sammelans the need to protect the Constitution against the BJP’s continuing assaults, almost all other leaders, in the Congress as well as other Opposition parties, have stopped talking about this. The Constitution remains an emotive issue for the vast majority of the people and it is one plank that is all-inclusive — growing communal polarisation, political, social and economic disparities, need for a caste census, deepening agrarian distress, misuse of central probe agencies, muzzling dissent, everything can be tied with this one plank and so we need to keep at it irrespective of how some election results after the Lok Sabha polls panned out unfavourably for us,” a Congress general secretary told The Federal.

Also read: ED seeks confiscation of Rs 661-crore assets in National Herald chargesheet

With its attempt to revive the “Samvidhaan Bachao” narrative, the Congress also wants to set the foundation for its electoral narrative for the Bihar Assembly polls, due in October, while also seeking common cause with its allies in the Opposition’s INDIA bloc, which has also lost the momentum that had, in the June Lok Sabha election, dragged the BJP’s seat tally below the majority mark. With an ambitious “Save Constitution” campaign, spanning well over a month and designed to percolate down from the Centre to the state to the district and the assembly constituency levels, the Congress leadership also hopes that it would be able to reinvigorate its inertia-prone organisation at the grassroots level.