BENGALURU: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday evening said that a special session of the legislature will soon be called to pass a resolution demanding that the Union Government bring back the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme.
Speaking at a meeting of senior Congress leaders, including ministers, at a Bengaluru hotel, the CM said that it was the BJP’s design to remove Mahatma Gandhi’s name from MGNREGA, which was implemented when Dr Manmohan Singh was the PM.
The scheme was meant to create employment in rural areas for Dalits, women, and farmers, Siddaramaiah said, adding, “The Centre has taken up the task of taking away this very employment. It has made the right to employment null and void.”
This is a conspiracy to create confusion by taking away the name of Mahatma Gandhi, by which Gandhi has been murdered again, the CM said. “This is the lesson taught by the Sangh Parivar (to BJP,” he said.
Siddaramaiah claimed that injustice has been meted out to the 28 crore Dalits.
He gave a call to the Congress’ ranks and files that the struggle against the Centre should be intense. “A lesson should be taught to those who took away the right to employment of the poor. The Sangh Parivar will not tolerate the poor becoming economically empowered,” he said.
“There should be a mass movement to get the MNREGA Act reestablished. Every gram panchayat member should reach out to those who were working under MGNREGA. An environment needs to be created where our struggle can develop into a mass movement,” he added.