New Delhi: Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Saturday accused the Modi government of bulldozing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and asserted that the party would resist what she termed a “black law” through lakhs of Congress workers across the country.
In a video message, Gandhi alleged that by weakening MGNREGA, the Centre had attacked the interests of crores of farmers, labourers and landless people, particularly in rural India. She claimed that over the past 11 years, the government had consistently ignored the concerns of the rural poor.
Addressing villagers and workers, the former Congress president recalled the passage of MGNREGA nearly two decades ago during the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government. She described the legislation as a “revolutionary step” that provided livelihood security to the most deprived sections of society and transformed rural employment.
Gandhi said the scheme had curbed distress migration, ensured a legal right to employment, and strengthened gram panchayats by decentralising decision-making. According to her, MGNREGA was a concrete move towards fulfilling Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of Gram Swaraj.
She alleged that the government had recently “run a bulldozer” over MGNREGA by removing Mahatma Gandhi’s name from the scheme and altering its structure without consultation or parliamentary consensus. Gandhi claimed that under the new law, key decisions regarding employment would be centralised in Delhi, ignoring local realities and grassroots needs.
Reiterating Congress’ role in bringing and implementing MGNREGA, she said the law was never party-specific but was rooted in national and public interest. She warned that diluting the scheme would severely harm farmers, labourers and landless households across rural India.
“I fought to secure the right to employment for the poor twenty years ago, and I remain committed to fighting this black law today,” Gandhi said, adding that Congress leaders and workers would stand united against the changes.
Her remarks come days after Parliament passed the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) or VB-G RAM G Bill, which seeks to replace the 20-year-old MGNREGA. The bill, which guarantees 125 days of rural wage employment annually, was cleared by both Houses amid strong opposition protests.
While the Opposition criticised the removal of Mahatma Gandhi’s name and alleged that the Centre was shifting the financial burden onto states, Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan defended the legislation, stating that the new law was necessary to address shortcomings in the earlier scheme.
