Congress plans protest against bid to ‘weaken’ forest rights Act

The Congress’s attempts to once again bring spotlight on these initiatives is scripted by party vice-president Rahul Gandhi.

AFTER BLOCKING the government’s attempts to make changes in the land acquisition Act, the Congress is now gearing up to launch a nationwide campaign to protest what it called attempts to “dilute and weaken” the forest rights Act, another flagship law of the previous UPA government. The party is also making plans to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the launch of rural job scheme MGNREGA next month.

Eighteen months after it was ousted from power despite hard selling populist schemes like the MGNREGA, the Congress’s attempts to once again bring spotlight on these initiatives is scripted by party vice-president Rahul Gandhi. Sources said he believes these were welfare initiatives which the party should protect even at the risk of sounding anti-growth.

Rahul has summoned the state unit chiefs to Delhi on February 5 to discuss implementation of MGNREGA in their states. Directions have also been issued to all state units to hold MGNREGA conventions on February 2, the day the scheme was launched in 2006.