The AAP government in Punjab, which had been opposing the Viksit Bharat Guarantee Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission Gramin (VB-G RAM G), has notified the rural employment scheme that will come into force from July 1 in the state.
In December last year, the Punjab Assembly had unanimously passed a resolution rejecting the VB-G RAM G Act.
The June 26 gazette notification issued by the Department of Rural Development and Panchayats stated, "In order to align the rural development framework with the national vision of Viksit Bharat 2047 by providing an enhanced statutory wage employment guarantee of one hundred and twenty five (125) days in each financial year to such rural households whose adult members volunteer to undertake unskilled manual work;
"And to focus on employment, growth, convergence and saturation, the government of Punjab is pleased to notify the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) [VB-G RAM G] Scheme, Punjab 2026, under the provisions of the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025."
The move triggered sharp reactions from the Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), both of which questioned the circumstances behind the government's change in stance.
Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring said the timing of the scheme's implementation was "as important as it is surprising".
"Whether the sudden implementation of the scheme had something to do with the ongoing controversy related to the chief minister," he asked, referring to the video row.
"Having been cornered both within and outside his party, is the chief minister trying to buy peace with the BJP?" Warring said.
He further questioned why the scheme was being implemented when the Assembly had unanimously resolved to reject it and sought an explanation from AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal on whether he had approved the move.
The controversy comes amid opposition attacks on Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann over an alleged objectionable video.
While the Akal Takht has issued an edict against Mann and opposition parties have sought action under a proposed anti-sacrilege law, the AAP has maintained that the person in the video is not the chief minister.
SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia alleged that the AAP government had "betrayed" Punjab's poor, Dalits and labourers by quietly implementing the scheme. He said the "anti-Punjab" face of the Chief Minister has once again been exposed.
Majithia also alleged that a scheme unanimously rejected by the Punjab Assembly was now being implemented through the back door.
Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa accused the AAP government of political hypocrisy.
"Was the unanimous resolution of the Assembly nothing more than a publicity stunt? Punjabis deserve answers," he said.
On December 30, 2025, the Punjab Assembly had unanimously passed a resolution opposing the VB-G RAM G Act, accusing the BJP-led Centre of "taking away" the livelihood of poor and Dalit labourers by scrapping MGNREGA under a "deliberate conspiracy". The House had also urged the Centre to restore MGNREGA in its original rights-based form.