Bihar: Cong bets on women, EBCs with Priyanka Gandhi leading poll campaign

Two days after unveiling its 10-point Patna Draft aimed at empowering the Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) — who constitute nearly 36 per cent of Bihar’s population and were once the bedrock of chief minister Nitish Kumar’s politics — the Congress on Friday shifted gears to cover another crucial constituency: women.

At a rally in Motihari, party general-secretary and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra directly targeted the Nitish Kumar-led NDA coalition, accusing it of treating women’s votes as purchasable with cash transfers rather than genuine empowerment.

“Why haven’t these people, who have been in government for 20 years, given money to women? Today, they are giving Rs 10,000 only so that women vote for BJP in the elections. This is their purpose and intention,” Priyanka said, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement of transferring Rs 10,000 each to 7.5 lakh women in Bihar.

Priyanka contrasted the NDA’s short-term sops with Congress’s long-term welfarism.

“Real empowerment means when the government helps you stand on your own feet, when your daughters can study and feel safe. But under the BJP and Nitish government, women are beaten and jailed when they raise their voice,” she declared. “You have struggled a lot, now the time for change has come.”

If the INDIA bloc forms the next government, Priyanka promised women Rs 2,500 every month, free healthcare worth up to Rs 25 lakh, and 3–5 dismil (1 dismil equals about 0.001 acre) land for landless families, with ownership rights given to women.

Earlier in Patna, she held a Mahila Samvad at the historic Sadaqat Ashram, the headquarters of the Bihar Congress, interacting with self-help groups and women’s NGOs — a format party leaders say will be replicated across Bihar to consolidate women’s support.

Patna watchers say by fielding top leadership in the state, and combining symbolic gestures such as convening the first post-Independence Congress Working Committee meeting in Bihar with grassroots mobilization through the Vote Adhikar Yatra, the grand old party is signalling that it will no longer accept a marginal role within the INDIA bloc.

Strategically, Congress’s twin focus on EBCs and women strikes at the twin pillars of Nitish Kumar’s past electoral successes. For years, Kumar consolidated EBCs through targeted policies and crafted a durable women’s vote bank via schemes like bicycle distribution, reservation in local bodies, and prohibition.

By moving aggressively into this space, Congress is attempting to redraw the social coalition that has sustained Kumar's politics for over two decades.

Priyanka’s role adds another dimension: her presence on the ground not only personalizes Congress’s outreach but also frames the party’s campaign around issues of dignity, safety, and opportunity for women—areas where Nitish’s credibility has eroded.