Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday called upon workers to take inspiration from farmers and stand united to demand the rollback of the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar Ajeevika Mission or the VB-G RAM G Act that replaced the MGNREGA.
Rahul Gandhi also claimed that the Modi government's objectives in repealing MGNREGA were the same as they were in bringing the “three black farm laws”, referring to the 2020-21 period when farmers forced a rollback after protesting at Delhi's border for a year.
The leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha was speaking at the National MGNREGA Workers' Convention organised by the Rachnatmak Congress, a party wing.
{{/usCountry}}The leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha was speaking at the National MGNREGA Workers' Convention organised by the Rachnatmak Congress, a party wing.
{{/usCountry}}Workers from across the country participated in the convention, reportedly bringing a fistful of soil from their work sites and putting in the plants as a symbolic gesture, news agency PTI reported.
Rahul Gandhi recalls ‘3 black laws’
Gandhi said that the only way to stop the government is the way shown by farmers. Calling the government “cowardly people", he called for unity. "If we stand together, you can decide the name of the scheme and its modalities. But there is one shortcoming, and that is of unity," he said.
Gandhi recalled the farm laws brought by the Modi government in 2020 and repealed the next year, calling it “an attack on farmers.”
“The Modi government had brought in black laws against farmers, which the farmers managed to stop. I remember, in Parliament and in the streets, along with farmers, we put pressure on the government," he said.
Gandhi claimed that the same concept that the government applied to farmers, it is now trying to do to workers.
He claimed that the idea behind the change in MGNREGA is that Delhi will decide how much money to send to which state, and it will send more money to BJP-ruled states and less to opposition-ruled states.
Further, he said that the central government will decide when and where the work will happen, and how much wages a worker will get. "The rights of workers have been finished, and what workers used to get will now go to the contractors and bureaucracy," Gandhi claimed.
Gandhi alleged that all the policies of the BJP are aimed at concentrating the country's wealth and property in the hands of a chosen few.
'Poor must unite now'
Gandhi said that the MGNREGA movement is an opportunity for the poor people who believe in the constitution that if they stand together, PM Modi will "back off and MGNREGA would be reinstated," Gandhi said.
Talking about the idea behind MGNREGA, Rahul Gandhi said that anyone who wanted work could demand work with dignity.
He said that the scheme has the voice of the people, their rights and the people were given the right to work, " a concept which Narendra Modi-BJP is now trying to finish off," Gandhi was quoted as saying.
Earlier on January 10, Congress started the MGNREGA Bachao Sangram, a 45-day nationwide campaign against the repeal of the UPA-era Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
The opposition party is demanding the withdrawal of the Viksit Bharat - Guarantee for Rozgar Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Act and restoration of MGNREGA as a rights-based law in its original form, the right to work and the authority of panchayats.
(With inputs from PTI)