Rahul Gandhi to visit Patna on April 7 to attend symposium on 'safeguarding Constitution'

Patna: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will be in Bihar early next month to take part in a symposium on "safeguarding the Constitution which is under attack from the Narendra Modi government at the Centre", a senior party leader said on Friday.

The announcement was made by AICC secretary Sushil Kumar Pasi at a press conference where the state unit president Rajesh Kumar and Congress legislature party leader Shakeel Ahmed Khan were also present.

"Jannayak (people's hero) Rahul Gandhi will be in Patna on April 7. He will interact with social activists at Samvidhan Suraksha Sammelan which is being organised at Shri Krishna Memorial Hall in the city, to commemorate Mahatma Gandhi's Salt Satyagraha," Pasi said.

He, however, ducked queries as to whether the date has been chosen because it coincides with Ram Navami, a festival that the BJP has been known to celebrate boisterously.

"Rahul Gandhi agrees to visit places whenever he is invited. As far as the BJP is concerned, it is a party that does not believe in secularism, which is one of the ideals on which our Constitution is based. The party is hostile towards all minorities, not just Muslims," Pasi alleged.

Significantly, it will be the third Bihar tour of Gandhi this year. He had taken part in similar symposiums in January and February.

Rajesh Kumar, the BPCC chief who took over the post only last week, disclosed that the party will ensure that its "visibility was commensurate with its reach" in Bihar, where workers have been asked to ensure that their vehicles carried the Congress flag.

"We are also mooting a 'Har Ghar Congress ka Jhanda' campaign. Our workers will try to encourage families to put up the party flags atop their houses," said Kumar, who, however, parried questions on apparent confusion in the party over accepting RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav as the chief ministerial candidate for the assembly polls due later this year.

While AICC Bihar in-charge Krishna Allavaru has said the decision "will be taken at an appropriate time", Rajya Sabha MP and former state president Akhilesh Prasad Singh has been claiming that "there is no confusion that Tejashwi will be the face of INDIA bloc".

Rajesh Kumar said, "It will suffice to say that the I.N.D.I.A. bloc will contest the assembly polls unitedly. Further details will be shared when the time comes." The Dalit leader also accused the BJP of practising "untouchability", blaming the party for an incident in Saharsa district where a temple was reportedly washed with 'Ganga Jal' shortly after offering of prayers by young leader Kanhaiya Kumar who is on a statewide padayatra.

Kumar alleged, "The BJP wants to take the nation back to the era prior to Independence. Earlier, only Dalits were discriminated against. Now, even Lord Parshuram's descendant is not being spared." Notably, Kanhaiya Kumar belongs to the influential upper caste Bhumihar, a community that claims descent from the warrior sage Parshuram.

Speaking at the same press conference, Shakeel Ahmed Khan lambasted the Modi government for bringing the Waqf Bill "unnecessarily" and asked NDA partners such as Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Union ministers Chirag Paswan and Jitan Ram Manjhi to give up their "ambiguity" on the issue.

Khan alleged that BJP was "Godse-wadi" (follower of Mahatma Gandhi's assassin) and "full of illiterates (jaahil), from top to bottom, who lie about their degrees".

He evaded a direct reply to the pointed query as to whether he was targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union minister Smriti Irani.