As Congress revives MGNREGA as a rallying cry, how BJP plans to fight back
BJP insiders say party's outreach will be announced in the coming week and “structured to seek maximum impact down to the polling-booth level, especially in rural India”.
BJP insiders said the outreach would be announced in the coming week and would be “structured to seek maximum impact down to the polling-booth level, especially in rural India” months before Assembly polls in West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. (File Photo) A day after the Congress announced its protest programme against the VB-G RAM G Act, 2025, it is learnt that the BJP is set to launch a nationwide outreach initiative to counter the Opposition’s narrative on the new rural job guarantee law.
The BJP brass, including president J P Nadda, newly appointed working president Nitin Nabin, and general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh, held a video conference on Saturday evening with the party’s Union Ministers, MPs from both Houses, Chief Ministers, Deputy CMs, state presidents, and state general secretaries for organisation. Union Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan briefed his party colleagues about the key features of the law, it is learnt. Nabin told those at the meeting — around 400 leaders were present — that the details of the outreach would be shared through a circular within two days, sources said. Soon after this, a separate virtual interaction was held with BJP MLAs in which Chouhan again spoke about the details of the G RAM G Act.
At a media interaction on Sunday, Chouhan dubbed the Congress campaign, which is scheduled to begin on January 8 and run till February 25, “Bhrashtachar Bachao Sangram (Save Corruption Campaign)”. The minister accused the Opposition party of being against “gram, kaam, Ram (village, work, and Lord Ram)” and alleged that “corruption is part of its DNA”. Graft had become synonymous with MGNREGA, something which the new law rectifies, he said. Chouhan accused the Congress of lacking both intent and policy to strengthen the rural job scheme during its time in power.
Targeting Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi for not being present in the House when the VB-G RAM G Bill was discussed last month during the Winter Session, Chouhan said, “Why was the Leader of Opposition not present in the House? Why did he not participate in the debate? When there is a debate, you run away, and later you spread misconceptions.”
Last week, accusing the NDA of seeking to “end MGNREGA”, Gandhi alleged that the purpose of the new law was erasing the right to employment for the poor, stealing economic and political power from the states, and handing over “money to billionaire friends”.
“To prevent misinformation and to ensure the truth comes to light, our national president will announce a programme to ensure that accurate information reaches the public,” Chouhan told reporters on Sunday.
BJP insiders said the outreach would be “structured to seek maximum impact down to the polling-booth level, especially in rural India” months before Assembly polls in West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
“The outreach will focus on a point-by-point rebuttal of allegations of diluting the Act claimed by the Opposition, especially the Congress,” a BJP leader said, adding that the party had decided to embark on this outreach “as soon as it (the Bill) was tabled” in the Lok Sabha last month.
“It will be a door-to-door campaign, including in the countryside, where the major chunk of the scheme’s beneficiaries live. Each of the BJP’s units across the country will take it forward in their respective state,” said the leader.
The Centre maintains that the new law strengthens the rural job guarantee scheme, increasing the number of employment days from 100 to 125, and keeping provisions such as unemployment allowance if work is not provided within the stipulated time and compensation if there is a delay in wage payment.
With its outreach, the BJP is trying to derail the Congress’s attempts to gain momentum before the Assembly polls in four key states this year by making a swift return to issues of livelihood, unemployment, and agrarian distress after “vote chori” and anti-SIR did not get any traction in the Bihar elections. Going by Chouhan’s remarks, the thrust of the BJP campaign is likely to be framing the new law as its attempt to end corruption in the scheme that the Congress considers to be the centrepiece of the UPA government’s achievements. This narrative also links the Opposition party to allegations of endemic corruption, something that had helped the BJP dislodge the UPA government from power in 2014.
Apart from the Congress, other Opposition parties have also criticised the G RAM G Act, with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) opposing it in strong terms and the West Bengal government renaming its rural jobs scheme after Mahatma Gandhi.
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