Rohit Kumar
NEW DELHI, Dec 20: The Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Saturday accused the Narendra Modi-led NDA Government of bulldozing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) and asserted that the “black law” that seeks to repeal it would be defied by the lakhs of party workers.
The Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha with a voice vote late on Thursday night, hours after the Lok Sabha cleared it, amid strong protests by the opposition over the removal of Mahatma Gandhi’s name from the existing rural employment guarantee scheme and accusing the government of putting the financial burden on States.
In a video message, Ms Gandhi said by weakening the MGNREGA, the Modi Government had attacked the interests of millions of farmers, labourers, and landless people. She alleged that over the past 11 years, the Center had ignored the interests of the rural poor.
“It is very saddening to see that the government has now run a bulldozer over MGNREGA.” Sonia said. She further said she was “determined to fight this black law.” The former Congress president said the “true form of MGNREGA” had been changed. “Not only was the name of Mahatma Gandhi removed, but MGNREGA’s true form was changed without a second thought, without consulting anyone, and without the trust of the opposition,” Sonia said.
She said MGNREGA was a “national and public interest-related scheme,” alleging that the Modi government had “weakened” the law and “attacked the interests of the poor” and crores of farmers.
Ms Gandhi said she vividly remembers the day 20 years ago, when Manmohan Singh was Prime Minister, and the MGNREGA Act was passed in Parliament by consensus. The former party president said it was “such a revolutionary step,” and became a means of livelihood for the deprived, the exploited, and the poorest of the poor.
She said due to MGNREGA, migration in search of work came to a halt, a legal right to employment was provided, and gram panchayats were empowered. “Through MGNREGA, a concrete step was taken towards realizing the dream of an India based on Mahatma Gandhi’s vision on Gram Swaraj,” she said and added, “But it is a matter of great regret that the government ran a bulldozer over MGNREGA. Not only was Mahatma Gandhi’s name removed, but the form and structure of MGNREGA was changed arbitrarily — without any deliberation, without consulting anyone, without taking the opposition into confidence,” the Congress leader alleged.
Ms Gandhi claimed that with the VB – G RAM G, the government would “sit in Delhi and decide” how much employment it would provide and where. “Congress played a major role in bringing and implementing MGNREGA. But it was never a party-related matter,” Sonia added.
Recalling the passing of the MGNREGA in Parliament 20 years ago, Sonia said it was a “revolutionary step which benefited millions of rural families.” “It became a means of livelihood for the deprived, the exploited, the poor, and the extremely poor,” Sonia said.
“At the same time, the village panchayats also gained strength. Through MGNREGA, a major step was taken towards the dream of Mahatma Gandhi’s village swaraj in India,” the Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson said, adding that the scheme had also been a source of livelihood for the poor during Covid-19.
The Center has maintained that MGNREGA was riddled with corruption during the UPA rule and the expected funds, meant for procuring material, was not used for designated jobs.
Her son and another former Congress president Rahul Gandhi had also accused the Modi government of demolishing in a single day the rural edifice built in the last 20 years and had dubbed the new legislation as “anti-village.” Noting that the VB-G RAM G Bill was not a “revamp” of MGNREGA, Gandhi said in a post on
“It demolishes the rights-based, demand-driven guarantee and turns it into a rationed scheme which is controlled from Delhi. It is anti-state and anti-village by design.” The Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha also said the MGNREGA gave the rural worker bargaining power. “With real options, exploitation and distress migration fell, wages increased, working conditions improved, all while building and reviving rural infrastructure. That leverage is precisely what this government wants to break,” Mr Gandhi alleged.
He said by capping work and creating more ways to deny it, the VB-G RAM G Bill weakens the one instrument the rural poor had. “We saw what MGNREGA meant during Covid. When the economy shut down and livelihoods collapsed, it kept crores from falling into hunger and debt,” Mr Gandhi claimed.
It helped women the most — year after year, with women contributing more than half the person-days, the Congress leader said. “When you ration a jobs programme, it is women, Dalits, Adivasis, landless workers and the poorest OBC communities who get pushed out first,” he said.
“To top it all, this law was bulldozed through Parliament without proper scrutiny. The opposition’s demand to send the Bill to a standing committee was rejected. A law that rewires the rural social contract, affecting crores of workers, should never be rammed through without serious committee scrutiny, expert consultation, and public hearings.” “PM Modi’s targets are clear: Weaken labour, weaken the leverage of rural India, especially Dalits, OBCs and Adivasis, centralise power, and then sell slogans as reform,” Mr Gandhi said.
Asserting that MGNREGA was among the most successful poverty alleviation and empowerment programs in the world, he said, “We will not let this government destroy the rural poor’s last line of defense. We will stand with workers, panchayats, and states to defeat this move and build a nationwide front to ensure this law is withdrawn,” he said.
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