New Delhi, Dec 20 (IANS) Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Saturday mounted a sharp attack on the PM Narendra Modi-led government, accusing it of systematically running a “bulldozer” over the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and undermining the rights of rural poor, farmers and landless workers, terming it an “assault on rural livelihoods”.
This comes two days after the Parliament passed the VB-G RAM G Bill 2025, which escalated into a major political slugfest between the government and the opposition.
In a video message shared by the Congress on X, Gandhi recalled the passage of the landmark employment guarantee law nearly two decades ago during the tenure of former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.
She said MGNREGA was passed with broad consensus in Parliament and proved to be a “revolutionary step” that provided livelihood security to crores of rural families, particularly the most deprived and marginalised.
“The law stopped distress migration by ensuring employment in one’s own village, strengthened gram panchayats and gave a legal right to work,” Gandhi said, adding that the scheme embodied Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of Gram Swaraj.
She noted that MGNREGA acted as a lifeline for the poor during the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, the Congress leader alleged that over the past 11 years, the Modi government had made repeated attempts to dilute the scheme by ignoring the interests of the rural unemployed and poor.
She expressed “deep anguish” over what she described as recent unilateral changes to the programme.
“Without consultation, discussion or taking the opposition into confidence, the government has altered the very structure of MGNREGA. Even Mahatma Gandhi’s name has been removed,” Sonia Gandhi claimed.
She warned that decisions on who gets work, how much employment is provided and where it is offered are now being taken “from Delhi, far removed from ground realities”.
Emphasising that MGNREGA was never a party-specific initiative, Gandhi said the Congress may have played a key role in bringing the law, but it was always meant to serve national and public interest.
“By weakening this law, the government has attacked the rights of crores of farmers, labourers and landless rural poor,” she said.
Gandhi asserted that the Congress was fully prepared to resist what she termed an assault on rural livelihoods. “I fought for the employment guarantee law 20 years ago, and I remain committed to fighting this ‘black law’ today,” she said, adding that Congress leaders and workers stood firmly with the people.
–IANS
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