Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Friday strongly criticised the Modi government over the passage of the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill, alleging that it has effectively dismantled the 20-year-old Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
In a post on X, Gandhi said the new law was not a revamp of MGNREGA but a fundamental dilution of its core principles.
“Last night, the Modi government demolished twenty years of MGNREGA in one day,” he said.
He alleged that the new legislation converts a rights-based, demand-driven employment guarantee into a rationed, centrally controlled scheme, describing it as “anti-state and anti-village by design”.
‘Breaks Bargaining Power of Rural Workers’
Gandhi said MGNREGA had empowered rural workers by giving them bargaining power.
“With real options, exploitation and distress migration fell, wages increased and working conditions improved, while rural infrastructure was created and revived,” he said, alleging that this leverage is what the government now seeks to dismantle.
He claimed that by capping employment days and creating more grounds to deny work, the new law weakens the only safety net available to the rural poor.
“We saw the importance of MGNREGA during Covid. When livelihoods collapsed, it prevented crores from falling into hunger and debt,” he said.
Impact on Women and Marginalised Communities
Gandhi said women benefitted the most from MGNREGA, noting that they accounted for more than half of the total person-days generated every year.
“When you ration a jobs programme, women, Dalits, Adivasis, landless workers and the poorest OBC communities are the first to be pushed out,” he said.
Criticism Over Parliamentary Process
The Congress leader also objected to the manner in which the Bill was passed, alleging that it was pushed through Parliament without adequate scrutiny.
“The opposition’s demand to send the Bill to a standing committee was rejected. A law that rewires the rural social contract affecting crores of workers should not be rammed through without expert consultation and public hearings,” he said.
Accusing the government of centralising power, Gandhi said,
“The targets are clear: weaken labour, weaken rural India’s leverage—especially of Dalits, OBCs and Adivasis—and then sell slogans as reform.”
Congress Vows Opposition
Asserting that MGNREGA was among the most successful poverty-alleviation programmes globally, Gandhi said the Congress would oppose the new law.
“We will not allow the government to destroy the rural poor’s last line of defence. We will stand with workers, panchayats and states to defeat this move and ensure this law is withdrawn,” he said.
Background
Parliament on Thursday night passed the VB-G RAM G Bill, which seeks to replace MGNREGA and guarantees 125 days of rural wage employment per year. The Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha through a voice vote hours after being cleared by the Lok Sabha, amid strong protests by opposition parties.
The opposition has objected to the removal of Mahatma Gandhi’s name from the scheme and accused the Centre of shifting the financial burden onto states.
