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CWC meet may plan stir against Centre amid MGNREGS row
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi also slammed the passage of the VB-G RAM G bill, which he described as “anti-state and anti-village by design”
The Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting on December 27 is expected to plan a protest programme against the Narendra Modi government’s alleged efforts to dismantle the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and other rights-based laws introduced during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)-era, people aware of the matter said on Friday.
Addressing a press conference in the national capital on the concluding day of the winter session, Congress general secretary for communication Jairam Ramesh alleged that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) began the winter session of Parliament by insulting Rabindranath Tagore and Jawaharlal Nehru during the debate on Vande Mataram, and later ended the session by disrespecting Mahatma Gandhi with the passage of the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) or VB-G RAM G bill.
“This session began with disrespect towards Rabindranath Tagore. In the middle of the session, there was an attempt to disrespect and demean Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, and towards the end of the session, the same was done with Mahatma Gandhi. These are the targets of PM Modi,” he said.
Speaking about the VB-G RAM G bill, Ramesh said, “The CWC is going to meet on the 27th and it will definitely be debated... our action plan to go to the public regarding this issue, to convey the message that legal rights have been taken away.”
Describing the PM and the government as “anti-labour”, the Rajya Sabha MP added, “The government had diluted Right to Information. Now, they have abolished MGNREGA. I can predict that the third target will be the Forest Rights Act and then they will go after the Land Acquisition Act, which has already undergone many changes. This is being done as a strategy. These rights that were given to people are being abolished without any deliberations or consultations.”
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi also slammed the passage of the VB-G RAM G bill, which he described as “anti-state and anti-village by design”.
“VB–G RAM G isn’t a ‘revamp’ of MGNREGA. It demolishes the rights-based, demand-driven guarantee and turns it into a rationed scheme which is controlled from Delhi,” Gandhi said on X.
Claiming that the law was “bulldozed through Parliament without proper scrutiny”, Gandhi said, “PM Modi’s targets are clear: weaken labour, weaken the leverage of rural India, especially Dalits, OBCs and Adivasis, centralise power, and then sell slogans as ‘reform’.”
“MGNREGA is among the most successful poverty alleviation and empowerment programmes in the world. We will not let this government destroy the rural poor’s last line of defence. We will stand with workers, panchayats, and states to defeat this move and build a nationwide front to ensure this law is withdrawn,” he said.
