Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday slammed the Modi government’s move to replace MGNREGA with the VB-GRAM-G Act, drawing parallels with the now-repealed farm laws.
Addressing the National MGNREGA Workers’ Convention organised by the Rachnatmak Congress, he urged workers and poor citizens to unite against the legislation.
Gandhi said MGNREGA was designed to provide the poor a guaranteed right to work through the Panchayati Raj system. “The objective was to empower the poor by ensuring work as a right. The BJP wants to end that concept,” he asserted.
Recalling the farmers’ protest against the three farm laws, Gandhi claimed, “We all united and got those laws repealed. The government is now attempting the same with workers.”
He slammed the new law for centralising decision-making, alleging that BJP-ruled states would receive preferential allocation of funds. He also warned that benefits previously accessible to workers could now be diverted to contractors and bureaucrats. “Their model of India is one where wealth is concentrated in a few hands and the poor remain dependent on corporate giants,” he said.
The Congress launched a 45-day nationwide campaign, ‘MGNREGA Bachao Sangram’, on January 10, demanding the withdrawal of the VB-GRAM-G Act and restoration of MGNREGA as a rights-based scheme, along with the reinstatement of the authority of panchayats.
(With inputs from PTI)