The Congress Working Committee (CWC) on Wednesday launched a sharp attack on the BJP-led government following a high-level meeting in Bihar, accusing it of economic mismanagement and alleged attempts to weaken the democratic institutions.
In a resolution adopted during the meeting, the party's first such gathering in poll-bound Bihar since Independence, the Congress top brass said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "huglomacy" has backfired and left India diplomatically isolated.
Seizing on US President Donald Trump's remarks that he used trade as a bargaining chip to coerce India into halting Operation Sindoor against Pakistan, the CWC said that the government has refused to address these claims.
The government, on its part, has repeatedly rejected claims of a third-party mediation during Operation Sindoor, with PM Modi directly telling Trump in a phone call that a ceasefire was reached during military talks.
The Congress body expressed profound worry over the alleged collapse of India's foreign policy.
The CWC resolution further said that India is facing “economic devastation wrought by the government", claiming that the Centre is trying to manipulate data to create the image of a booming economy.
It further alleged that “under BJP, social justice [is] being trampled on while reservations are routinely eroded through rampant privatisation.”
Expressing concern over constitutional safeguards, the resolution said that “BJP-RSS’s relentless attacks on Constitution continue unabated; fundamental principles of our democracy being demolished brick by brick.”
On electoral processes, the party reiterated its charge of foul play in Bihar, calling the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise "yet another dirty trick from BJP's toolkit" to manipulate electoral processes.
It expressed confidence that the Bihar elections will "seal the fate" of Mahagathbandhan, claiming that the days of the "corrupt, incompetent, and authoritarian government are numbered".
"The conspiracy of roll revision is the greatest threat to democracy ... the process designed to rob marginalised communities of their Right to Vote," the resolution said.
Earlier, the Congress' top brass met in Patna for the party's first working committee meeting in Bihar in the post-Independence era to deliberate on the assembly polls strategy and ramp up its attack against the BJP over alleged "vote chori".
It is an extended Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, with permanent and special invitees, the party's chief ministers, Pradesh Congress Committee presidents and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leaders participating.
Top Congress leaders, including Kharge, former party chief Rahul Gandhi, treasurer Ajay Maken, general secretaries KC Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh and Sachin Pilot, Bihar Congress chief Rajesh Kumar, among others, participated in the meeting.
The BJP mounted an attack on Congress over the CWC meeting in Bihar, calling it a bid to take the "driving seat" from its allies.
During a media briefing in New Delhi, BJP MP and former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that Congress will have to answer why it remained "silent" when people of the state were being kidnapped, public money were swindled in scams and the entire state was witnessing caste based-massacre during the RJD's rule.
"Their CWC meeting in Patna is purely motivated by political gains. They felt that they can take the driving seat and demand more seats (from RJD) to contest assembly polls in Bihar," Prasad said.
(With inputs from PTI)
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