Congress said on Saturday that it will start ‘MNREGA Bachao Sangram’ from January 8, under which, along with organizing many programs from village level to state level, four big meetings will be organized in different parts of the country.
The party says that the purpose of its “struggle” is to reinstate the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) and withdraw the new law.
Congress Organization General Secretary KC Venugopal said that this campaign of the party will continue till February 25.
Party general secretary Jairam Ramesh alleged that the ‘Bharat-Ji Ram Ji Act’, which replaced MNREGA, only guaranteed “destruction of India” and centralization of the scheme.
He said that ‘Save MNREGA Sangram’ is not Delhi centric, but Panchayat, Block and District centric. He also said that the new law will be challenged in court.
On December 27, in the meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the top policy making body of the party, it was decided to start a campaign in favor of MNREGA.
“It was decided in the working committee meeting that MNREGA Bachao Sangram will be launched,” Venugopal told reporters.
He claimed that the new law has been made in such a way that MNREGA can be abolished.
Venugopal said that during the times of Covid and many other crises, MNREGA had emerged as a big security shield.
According to him, everything will be decided by the Central Government under the ‘Developed India-Ji Ram Ji Act’ and the people living in the villages will have to bear the brunt of it.
Venugopal said that under the new law, there has been talk of increasing the working days from 100 to 125 days, but this claim is nonsense as the ratio of allocation of funds on the Centre’s share has been reduced from 90 percent to 60 percent.
Ramesh said that this “war” will start from January 8 and will continue till February 25.
He said that the only guarantee of the Ji Ram Ji Act is the centralization of the scheme.
Ramesh said, “Our only demand is that MNREGA should be brought back and the new law should be withdrawn.”
He said that other opposition parties and social organizations will be associated with this “struggle”.
Ramesh claimed that the outcome of this struggle would be the same as the success of the movement during the three “black” agricultural laws when the government had to withdraw those laws.
The Parliament had approved the ‘Developed India-Ji Ram Ji Bill, 2025’ on December 18 amid the uproar of the opposition.
This Act has now been enacted after the signature of President Draupadi Murmu. It will replace the 20 year old MNREGA.