New Delhi: Congress Saturday announced a nationwide campaign against the repeal of the MGNREGA from January 5, with Rahul Gandhi accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “single-handedly destroying” the UPA-era legislation and claimed it was an attack on the democratic structure that will ruin the rural economy.
Announcing the plan at a press conference, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, along with Rahul Gandhi, said their agitation will be similar to the pushback against the three farm laws, which eventually forced the Narendra Modi government to roll them back.
After a nearly three-hour meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the first one after the Bihar poll debacle, Kharge said the party will lead the ‘MGNREGA Bachao Abhiyan’ from January 5, and a detailed plan will be announced soon under which rallies will be held across the country.
Causing a flutter ahead of the CWC meet, Digvijaya Singh lauded the organisational power of the RSS and BJP as he shared Narendra Modi’s old picture and remarked how a grassroots worker went on to become the chief minister and prime minister by sitting at the feet of their leaders. He later raised the issue of strengthening the Congress and decentralising its state units.
During the CWC meeting, Congress leaders took an oath to protect MGNREGA at all costs and collectively struggle to secure the right to dignity, employment, and fair and timely compensation due to the country’s workers.
The VB-G RAM G Bill, replacing the 20-year-old MGNREGA, was passed during the Winter Session of Parliament amid vociferous protests by the opposition.
Kharge said the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) was not just a scheme, but the ‘Right to Work’ given by the Constitution.
“We resolve to oppose, by all democratic means possible, the attempt to remove the name of Mahatma Gandhi from MGNREGA and to convert the rights of workers to a government dole. While keeping full faith in the Constitution and Indian democracy, we will protect the MGNREGA, the rights of India’s workers and take our voice to every last village,” stated the oath taken at the CWC meeting.
Kharge said, “People are angry over the repeal of MGNREGA and the government will have to face the consequences.”
“At the CWC meeting, we took an oath that a campaign would be launched with MGNREGA as its focal point. The Congress would take the lead and start a “MGNREGA Bachao Abhiyan” from January 5,” Kharge announced.
Reading out the pledge, he said, “We will fight unitedly for the rights of rural labourers to dignity, employment, wages and timely payment and will protect the rights of demand-based employment and gram sabha.”
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, alleged that the prime minister carried out a devastating attack on states and the poor, “much like demonetisation”.
“The prime minister single-handedly destroyed MGNREGA without asking his Cabinet, and without studying the matter,” he said.
Asserting that the Congress will resist and fight it, he said, “I am confident that the entire opposition will stand united against this action.”
In a post in Hindi on X, Gandhi later said, “There is only one purpose behind the end of MGNREGA — to erase the right to employment for the poor, to steal economic and political power from the states, and to hand over that money to billionaire friends.”
“The entire country will bear the cost of the whims of the ‘lone ranger’ Prime Minister. Jobs will end, and the rural economy will collapse. When villages weaken, the country will weaken,” he said.
Noting that it is an attack on the country’s federal structure, Gandhi claimed it is a devastating attack on states and poor people, “carried out by the prime minister single-handedly, much like demonetisation”.
The former Congress chief said this is an attack on the states of India because they are simply taking away money and decision-making power that belongs to the states. It is an attack on the infrastructure of the states because MGNREGA was used to build infrastructure, he claimed.
It is going to cause tremendous pain to the weaker sections, to Adivasis, to Dalits, to OBCs, to poor general castes, and to minorities,” Gandhi said.
At the same time, the senior Congress leader claimed, it is going to “benefit Mr Adani in full measure. That is the purpose of this exercise: to take money away from poor people and hand it to people like Mr Adani”.
On the SIR exercise, Kharge said it is a serious issue, and “a well-planned conspiracy” to limit people’s democratic rights. “There is a collusion between the BJP and the Election Commission.”
“We have to ensure that the names of our voters are not deleted. We also need to ensure that the names of Dalits, tribals, extremely backward classes and minorities are not deleted or transferred. For this, our booth-level agents will have to go house to house,” he said, urging partymen to start work in states that will go to the polls in 2027,” the Congress president asserted.
He also condemned the attacks on Hindu minorities in Bangladesh and said that the whole of India is concerned about it. Party leader Shashi Tharoor said the issue of attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh should not be equated with attacks on minorities in India.
Kharge claimed that the attacks on Christmas Day celebrations by “organisations linked to BJP and RSS” have disturbed communal harmony and tainted India’s image globally.
PTI