Congress will launch a nationwide save MNREGA movement, the movement will start from January 5.

New Delhi . The Congress Working Committee has strongly condemned the Modi government for bringing a new law in place of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) and has pledged to restore MNREGA and protect the interests of workers and has announced to run MNREGA Bachao Andolan across the country from January 5.

Party President Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi made this announcement in a press conference after the meeting of the Working Committee, the highest policy making body of the party, held here on Saturday. Kharge said that it was resolved in the meeting that MNREGA will be protected at all costs and the party will fight unitedly to protect the honor of rural laborers and their wages.

He said that there was a wide discussion on the issue of MNREGA in the working committee meeting and it was also resolved that there will be strong opposition to removing the name of Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi from MNREGA and converting people’s rights into dole. The party will fight from the streets to the Parliament to bring back MNREGA.

The Congress President said that the present government itself has admitted that NITI Aayog had described MNREGA as a scheme to create permanent assets and provide employment. MNREGA has also been praised in the CAG report. He said that this scheme helped the displaced laborers a lot during Covid. If this plan had not happened, lakhs of people would have died of hunger. Shri Kharge said that MNREGA has been useful for everyone. This provided employment to all, stopped migration and gave the poor the right to work on a large scale. The poor were taking advantage of it and those who were not getting wages were getting employment under MNREGA, but the Modi government has taken away the rights of the poor. There is anger among those who were dependent on it and this anger will weigh heavily on the Modi government. Just as Congress and other opposition parties had fought against the three anti-farmer agricultural laws and the government had to withdraw them, similarly the fight will be fought for the return of MNREGA.

The Congress President said that Sonia Gandhi and the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and her team played an important role in bringing MNREGA and gave their rights to the poor. Because of that the poor did not have to work under anyone but now this right has been taken away from them.

Calling it an attack on the federal structure, Rahul Gandhi said that in the new law the Center is snatching money from the states. This is centralization of rights and financial system which will harm the country and the poor people. He said that I have been told that this decision has been taken directly from the Prime Minister’s Office and without the advice of the Cabinet. From this you come to know about the condition of today that one man is running and the entire benefit will be given to two-three billionaires. This program will collapse and will harm the rural economy. Gandhi said that MNREGA was appreciated across the world. Kharge went to 16 countries and everyone there praised the scheme.