Andalib Akhter / New Delhi
Senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi has strongly criticised the Central government over recent changes to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), alleging that the scheme has been deliberately weakened to the detriment of rural poor, farmers and workers. Warning the centre she said that Modi Government has Bulldozed MGNREGA.
Recalling that the passage of the landmark legislation nearly 20 years ago, Sonia Gandhi In a video message to the people of India said that MGNREGA was enacted during the tenure of former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh with the consensus of Parliament. She described the Act as a revolutionary step that provided employment and dignity to crores of rural families, particularly the poor, marginalised and most vulnerable sections of society.
She said the law gave rural households a legal right to employment, helped curb distress migration by enabling people to earn livelihoods in their own villages, and strengthened grassroots democracy by empowering gram panchayats. According to her, MGNREGA was a concrete step towards realising Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of Gram Swaraj.
Targeting the Modi government, Sonia Gandhi alleged that over the past 11 years, the interests of rural unemployed, poor and marginalised communities have been consistently ignored. She pointed out that during the COVID-19 pandemic, MGNREGA proved to be a lifeline for millions, yet efforts to dilute the scheme continued.
She expressed concern over recent decisions taken by the government, claiming that major changes to the structure of MGNREGA were made without proper consultation, discussion or taking the opposition into confidence. She alleged that even Mahatma Gandhi’s name has been removed from the scheme and that decisions regarding who gets work, where and how, will now be taken centrally from Delhi, far removed from ground realities.
Sonia Gandhi emphasised that while the Congress played a key role in bringing and implementing MGNREGA, the scheme was never about any one party but about national and public interest. Weakening the law, she said, amounts to an attack on the livelihoods of crores of farmers, labourers and landless rural poor.
Concluding her statement, Sonia Gandhi said she remains committed to fighting against what she termed a “black law,” just as she did two decades ago to secure the right to employment for the poor. She asserted that Congress leaders and millions of party workers stand firmly with the people in defence of MGNREGA.