BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday claimed that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was the guiding force behind the Modi government’s replacement of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) with the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Act.
“It is against the Constitution. What Manusmriti preaches is that women, Dalits and Shudras should not be empowered financially, should be allowed to live a life of dignity but remain as slaves. RSS, which draws inspiration from Manusmriti, guided the government in taking away power from villages and keeping it centralised in Delhi,” he said.
A day after the state cabinet decided not to adopt VB-G RAM G and constitute its own rural employment guarantee scheme, Siddaramaiah held a press conference at his residence with Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, RDPR Minister Priyank Kharge, Food and Civil Supplies Minister KH Muniyappa, Women and Child Welfare Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar and Agriculture Minister N Cheluvarayaswamy.
With the Congress top brass planning to corner the Centre on the issue, the Karnataka leadership declared that until the Modi government restores the MGNREGA, like it repealed the three farm laws, they will launch protests across the state.
“MGNREGA, introduced when Dr Manmohan Singh was prime minister, was not just about providing employment to people, it was a historical decision. It was a stepping stone to make Mahatma Gandhi’s Gram Swaraj dream come true. Godse killed Mahatma, now for the second time, the BJP-RSS killed him by removing his name. There should be no hatred. Was Gandhi’s Gram Swaraj dream and bringing freedom for the country wrong,” he asked.
He said BJP’s achievement in eleven-and-a-half years of being in power is to either change the names of welfare programmes launched by the UPA or repeal them. “They have done this with about 30 programmes like Nirmal Bharat changed to Swachh bharat, Indira Awas to PM Awas and Planning Commission to Niti Aayog. They have stopped many programmes meant for the country’s development,” he added.
The CM said he wrote to Modi on December 30, 2025, urging the latter to repeal VB-G RAM G and restore MGNREGA to protect the employment rights of women and Dalits and to revive panchayat autonomy.
He pointed out that under Section 5(1) of VB-G RAM-G, employment would be provided only in areas notified by the government, with no guarantee of work through gram panchayats.
Rs 3,000 crore burden on state’s exchequer
Siddaramaiah said because of the Union government shifting the funding pattern from full central assistance to a 60:40 sharing ratio, it would burden the state’s exchequer with approximately Rs 3,000 crore annually.
“The decision violates Articles 258 and 280 of the Constitution and undermines India’s federal structure. It also violates the 73rd amendment that empowers panchayats,” he said.
Gift Gandhi’s portraits to Congress: DCM to BJP
DCM D K Shivakumar advised BJP state leaders to gift the portraits of Mahatma Gandhi, if at all they have in their offices, to the Congress. “BJP leaders have lost the moral right to talk about Gandhiji. They have not even retained the right to keep Gandhiji’s photo in their offices,” he said. “BJP leaders have lost the moral right to sit in front of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue and fight. They have lost the right to put Mahatma Gandhi’s photos in their offices. What right do you have after removing his name from the MGNREGA? You have no right to talk about Mahatma Gandhi and garland his statue. Give us the photos that you have, we will keep them in our house where Gandhiji will be respected.”