The Congress on Saturday upped the ante against “bulldozer justice” in BJP-ruled states, using its new-found confidence after the Lok Sabha election results to take up a polarising subject in poll season.

The Congress charge against “bulldozer justice’’ was led by party president Mallilkarjun Kharge, the immediate provocation being the recent demolition of houses of those accused of attacking a police station at Chhatarpur in Madhya Pradesh.

Kharge underlined that “bulldozer justice" disregards the Constitution, linking it to the larger narrative of the BJP trying to undermine India’s constitutional edifice.

Kharge in a post on X said: "Demolishing someone's home and rendering their family homeless is both inhumane and unjust. The repeated targeting of minorities in BJP-ruled states is deeply troubling. Such actions have no place in a society governed by the Rule of Law.

"The Congress Party strongly condemns the BJP state governments for their blatant disregard of the Constitution, using bulldozing as a tactic to instill fear among citizens. Anarchy cannot replace natural justice — offences must be adjudicated in courts, not through state-sponsored coercion."

AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also weighed in with a separate post on X. "If someone is accused of a crime, then only the court can decide his crime and his punishment. But punishing the accused’s family as soon as the accusation is made, taking away the roof from over their heads, not following the law, disobeying the court, demolishing the house of the accused as soon as the accusation is made — this is not justice. This is the height of barbarism and injustice.

"There should be a difference between the law makers, the law keepers and the law breakers. Governments cannot behave like criminals. Obeying the law, Constitution, democracy and humanity is the minimum condition of governance in a civilised society. One who cannot fulfill his duty can neither do good for the society nor for the country. Bulldozer justice is totally unacceptable, it must stop."

The Congress had flagged the issue of bulldozer justice in its manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year. In the chapter on "Defending the Constitution", the party said: "We promise to put an end to the weaponisation of laws, arbitrary searches, seizures and attachments, arbitrary and indiscriminate arrests, third-degree methods, prolonged custody, custodial deaths, and bulldozer justice."

Though the party had spoken up earlier against bulldozer justice, Saturday's forceful intervention marks a shift in the tone and tenor of the Congress's protest against this form of punishment, particularly against minorities, popular in BJP-ruled states.

For long, the Congress has been accused of treading cautiously in picking up the cudgels for minorities, singed as the party has been by the BJP’s accusation of appeasement politics. Its cautious politics has also drawn the ire of the secular forces.

The Lok Sabha election results appear to have given the Congress the confidence to return to its original DNA of being an umbrella party that will speak up for all.