CWC meet: Congress alleges BJP-JDU stealing land, wealth, jobs in Bihar

The meeting of the extended Congress Working Committee (CWC) held at the historic Sadakat Ashram, the headquarters of the party’s Bihar unit in Patna, on Wednesday (September 24) offered no answers to questions about the chief ministerial face of the Grand Alliance or the Congress’ own standing within the Opposition coalition in the poll-bound state. What the over four-hour-long huddle did accomplish, however, was to sharpen the party’s rhetoric for the poll battle that lies ahead while also offering a glide-path to its election campaign.

If thus far, the party and its chief campaigner, Lok Sabha’s Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, had assailed the “double engine” NDA government led by JD-U’s Nitish Kumar in Patna and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi, with its ‘vote chor, gaddi chhod’ ('vote thief, vacate your seat of power') slogan, the Congress added a slew of other ‘thefts’ to its blitzkrieg following the extended CWC meet.

‘Land thief, employment thief’

While the central pole of the party’s campaign continues to be ‘vote chori’ (vote theft), the Congress has now added ‘zameen chor’ (land thief), ‘rozgaar chor’ (employment thief) and ‘note chor’ (wealth thief) to its list of appellations for the ruling coalition in order to cover a whole gamut of accusations it plans to level at the Modi-Nitish duo during the impending polls. In doing so, the Congress has also signalled that it has no reservations in aping the BJP when it comes to shunning civility in political discourse.

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That the Congress was keen on diversifying its ‘vote chori’ narrative to include other issues that have a direct and adverse impact on the electorate was clear when party president Mallikarjun Kharge told the extended CWC in his opening remarks that voter deletion was only the first step of the BJP-led NDA towards a more sinister “conspiracy” that ultimately envisaged robbing historically and economically backward communities and religious minorities on their right to food, education and social justice.

This was also reflected in the political resolution adopted by the working committee which expressed “dire apprehension” against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar, dubbing it a “dirty trick from the BJP’s toolkit to manipulate electoral rolls and cling to power”.

“Their aim is clear: to disenfranchise the poor, workers, backward classes and minorities – the very people who are determined to oust the NDA from Bihar. Once their votes are taken away, they will also be deprived of their other rights – ration, housing, water, pension, healthcare facilities and even dignity,” the resolution added.

Congress’ appeal to Bihar voters

Building upon this message, an “appeal for Bihar’s voters” adopted by the extended CWC read, “when the vote of the people is stolen, their future, their dignity, and their constitutional entitlements are stolen along with it.”

Also read: Will Rahul Gandhi's 'vote chori' charges be a factor in Bihar polls?

Drawing parallels with other instances of alleged theft that are underway in Bihar, the party said in its appeal to the Bihar electorate that the NDA is not guilty of stealing their votes but also their land, wealth, and jobs.

Quoting the Comptroller & Auditor General’s (CAG) recent findings of “49,649 pending utilisation certificates (for various schemes and projects) in Bihar that amount to a staggering Rs 70,877 crore”, the appeal said an “organised loot” was underway in the Nitish-led regime, making it clear that the NDA was a “note chor”.

Next, the appeal states that while ordinary Biharis were “struggling on the streets – hungry, homeless and landless”, the state government “leased over a thousand acres of land in Bhagalpur to its crony benefactor, Adani at the rate of Rs 1 per acre per year for a power project” without the consent of the farmers whose land was being snatched away. “Beyond the PR optics of the PM’s trip to Bihar, the truth is undeniable: The NDA is not just a vote chor but also a zameen chor”, the Congress said.

Outreach to unemployed Bihari youth

The Congress is also keen on using the ‘zameen chor’ jibe at the government over the ongoing Bihar Land Survey 2025, which the party says has “forced people to dig out land ownership papers dating back decades in the name of streamlining land records” just as the SIR had forced them to go scurrying for documents or risk being excluded from voter rolls. “The land revenue department of Bihar is running a full-blown scam under the garb of correcting these mixed-up records. The SCs, STs, and poor landless families who, under successive Congress governments, had been allotted land for housing are particularly being hounded, dispossessed, and pushed to the margins once again,” the Congress has alleged.

Also read: Priyanka Gandhi’s ‘Har Ghar Adhikar Yatra’ in Bihar to keep alliance’s momentum going

Among the most potent accusations by the Congress, however, said a party leader from Bihar who was at the extended CWC meet and helped draft the appeal to the voters, is the party’s outreach to unemployed Bihari youth. Rising unemployment coupled with the crisis of out-migration of Bihari youth has been an issue that Congress’ senior ally, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, too has been raising vociferously through his campaigns.

The Congress wants to bridge the issue of unemployment with the wider “NDA conspiracy” of robbing Biharis of their rights. The party’s appeal to Bihari voters, thus, states, “the worst victims of this corrupt misrule are the youth of Bihar, who have been categorically denied their rightful opportunities.”

“From the aspirants of the Bihar Police Subordinate Services Commission (BPSSC) and the Central Selection Board of Constable (CSBC) who had gathered in large numbers to protest in Patna, demanding greater transparency, fairness, and accountability in the examination and recruitment processes, to TRE-4 candidates protesting against the government’s betrayal of its promise of one lakh teaching posts, young Biharis have taken to the streets in despair and anger. Instead of listening to their grievances, the NDA regime unleashed brutal lathicharge… This is the lived reality of Bihar today where those who dare to demand transparency, accountability, and opportunity are met not with reform, but with repression. Today the youth of Bihar is forced to flee their homes… because a Vote Chor government is invariably also a Rozgar Chor,” the appeal adds.

Focusing on ‘strengthening BLAs’

While its message to Bihar’s voters is cogent and holds no punches, the Congress also realises that the pitch is only as good as the party’s ability to take it to the grassroots. As such, the high command’s message from the CWC to the party’s Bihar leadership as well as senior leaders from across the country was clear – “do not get complacent”.

Though sundry leaders at the CWC acknowledged, in true sycophantic form of the Congress, that Rahul’s Bihar Voter Adhikar Yatra had revitalised the party in the state and paved the way for an electoral resurgence, the leadership made it clear that this was no time to gloat, The Federal has learnt.

Party leaders from Bihar, in particular, and other states in general have been told to “extensively campaign” in the poll-bound state, while emphasis has also been laid on strengthening booth level agents (BLAs) to thwart further the attempts at ‘vote chori’.

“The leadership was of the view that now is the time for party leaders to focus on strengthening BLAs,” a CWC member told The Federal, adding that instruction had also been given to ensure that “local issues including unemployment, examination paper leaks and migration should find equal prominence in the campaign alongside the ‘Vote Chori’ charge”.