Sonia Gandhi’s allegation: Modi government started bulldozing on MNREGA, but we all are ready to fight…

New Delhi. Congress parliamentary party leader Sonia Gandhi accused the Modi government of taking away the right to employment of the poor by bringing a new law in place of MNREGA. He also alleged that the Modi government has been continuously trying to weaken this law for 11 years and now it has abolished this law made for the employment of the poor.

She said that she had fought to provide this right to the poor and now she will also fight against snatching away the rights of the poor by abolishing it. Sonia Gandhi said in a video message here on Saturday, “I still remember, 20 years ago when Dr. Manmohan Singh ji was the Prime Minister, the MNREGA law was passed unanimously in the Parliament. This was such a revolutionary step, which benefited crores of rural families.

It became a source of livelihood especially for the deprived, exploited, poor and extremely poor people. There was a ban on leaving one’s land, one’s village, one’s home and family and migrating for employment. Legal right to employment was given, and Gram Panchayats got strength. Through MNREGA, a concrete step was taken towards the India of Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of Gram Swaraj.”

He accused the Modi government of not giving importance to this scheme from the beginning and in the last 11 years, it made every effort to weaken MNREGA by ignoring the interests of the unemployed, the poor and the deprived in rural areas, whereas during the time of Covid, it proved to be a lifeline for the poor class.

It is regrettable that recently the government bulldozed MNREGA. Not only was Mahatma Gandhi’s name removed from this scheme, but the form of MNREGA was also arbitrarily changed without any discussion, without consulting anyone and without taking the opposition into confidence. Now who will get employment, how much, where and how, this will be decided by the government sitting in Delhi, away from the ground reality.

Congress had a big contribution in bringing and implementing MNREGA, but it was never a party related matter but it was a plan related to national interest and public interest. By weakening this law, the Modi government has attacked the interests of crores of farmers, laborers and landless rural poor of the country.

He said, “We are all ready to counter this attack. Twenty years ago, I had also fought to get the right to employment for my poor brothers and sisters, even today I am committed to fighting against this black law. All the Congress leaders and lakhs of workers like me are standing with you.”