Rahul Gandhi says government trying to repeat farm laws mistake with MGNREGA repeal

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge addressed the National MGNREGA Workers’ Convention in New Delhi on Thursday, an event organised by the Rachnatmak Congress with participation from workers across the country (Source: Photo by Anil Sharma)

During his address, Kharge said the Congress would oppose the renaming of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to VB-G RAM G and pledged to take up the issue during the upcoming Budget session starting January 28 (Source: Photo by Anil Sharma)

Kharge stated that the party’s opposition would be sustained and strategic, emphasising that the struggle would continue until the original MGNREGA law was restored and the new legislation repealed (Source: Photo by Anil Sharma)

He asserted that the proposed name change was aimed at removing Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy from public life and weakening the foundational idea of Gram Swaraj embedded in the employment guarantee scheme (Source: Photo by Anil Sharma)

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, also addressing the convention, linked the proposed changes to MGNREGA with the approach previously taken by the government during the enactment of the three farm laws (Source: Photo by Anil Sharma)

Rahul Gandhi said MGNREGA was conceived as a rights-based programme guaranteeing employment to the poor through the Panchayati Raj system, a principle he said was now under threat (Source: Photo by Anil Sharma)

Referring to the repeal of the farm laws, Gandhi said collective pressure had earlier forced the government to withdraw legislation and claimed a similar approach was being used against workers through the new employment law (Source: Photo by Anil Sharma)

Gandhi further alleged that the proposed law would centralise decision-making on work allocation and funding, favouring contractors and bureaucracy over workers and local self-governments (Source: Photo by Anil Sharma)

He also accused the government of promoting an economic model that concentrates assets among a few corporate groups, making ordinary citizens increasingly dependent on large business interests (Source: Photo by Anil Sharma)

In a symbolic act, workers attending the convention brought soil from their respective work sites and placed it in plants, underscoring the grassroots nature of the campaign launched by the Congress on January 10 under the banner ‘MGNREGA Bachao Sangram’ (Source: Photo by Anil Sharma)