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MGNREGA row: Opposition steps up protest against VB GRAMG Bill, demands withdrawal

The Congress is preparing nationwide protests at district headquarters on Wednesday against the Bill, calling it a struggle “to defend Gandhiji’s legacy and the constitutional promise of justice for the poorest.”

South First Desk

Published Dec 16, 2025 | 4:59 PM ⚊ Updated Dec 16, 2025 | 5:00 PM

In the Lok Sabha, senior Congress leader and MP Shashi Tharoor opposed the introduction of the Bill, calling it “a deeply regrettable and retrograde step for our nation and for our nation’s commitment to the welfare of its most vulnerable citizens”.

In the Lok Sabha, senior Congress leader and MP Shashi Tharoor opposed the introduction of the Bill, calling it “a deeply regrettable and retrograde step for our nation and for our nation’s commitment to the welfare of its most vulnerable citizens”.

Synopsis: Opposition parties have stepped up protests a day after the Union government proposed the VB GRAMG Bill to replace MGNREGA, accusing the BJP-led NDA government of weakening the statutory right to work and erasing Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy. Leaders such as Rahul Gandhi, Shashi Tharoor, MK Stalin, the Trinamool Congress and the CPI(M) have demanded the Bill’s withdrawal. The Congress has also announced nationwide protests on Wednesday.

A day after the Union government proposed the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill, 2025 (VB GRAMG Bill) to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), opposition parties stepped up protests, accusing the BJP-led NDA government of weakening the statutory right to work and attempting to erase Mahatma Gandhi and his legacy from public consciousness.

The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, and leaders of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] denounced the Bill and demanded its withdrawal, both inside and outside Parliament.

Opposition MPs on Tuesday, 16 December, staged a protest at the Mahatma Gandhi statue in the Parliament premises, holding portraits of Gandhi to oppose the renaming of MGNREGA.

The Congress also sought to take the opposition beyond Parliament. All India Congress Committee general secretary KC Venugopal wrote to Pradesh Congress Committee presidents and Congress Legislature Party leaders, directing them to organise protests on Wednesday at district headquarters across the country.

“This is both a political and moral struggle. The Congress Party must lead from the front to defend MGNREGA, Gandhiji’s legacy and the constitutional promise of justice for the poorest,” Venugopal wrote in the letter.

Also Read: Explained: Key provisions in VB–G Ram G Bill which is set to replace MGNREGA

‘An assault on the right to work’

Rahul Gandhi said MGNREGA was “the living embodiment of Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of Gram Swaraj” and had served as a lifeline for millions of rural Indians, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He accused the Modi government of having systematically weakened the scheme since assuming power and of now seeking to dismantle it altogether.

“MGNREGA was built on three fundamental principles. Right to employment, anyone who demands work must be provided employment; autonomy for villages to decide their own development works; and full wage support by the Central Government and 75% of material costs,” he wrote in a post on X.

He alleged that the proposed law would convert the scheme into “a tool of centralised control”, with budgets and rules dictated by the Centre, States forced to bear 40 percent of the costs, and workers denied employment once funds run out or during harvest seasons.

“From Sadak to Sansad, we will oppose this anti-people Bill,” he said.

In the Lok Sabha, senior Congress leader and MP Shashi Tharoor echoed Gandhi’s concerns and delivered a forceful speech opposing the introduction of the Bill, calling it “a deeply regrettable and retrograde step for our nation and for our nation’s commitment to the welfare of its most vulnerable citizens”.

“Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of Ram Rajya was never a purely political project. It was a socio-economic blueprint rooted in the empowerment of villages,” Tharoor said, asserting that the original Act acknowledged this connection by bearing Gandhi’s name.

“To remove the name of Mahatma Gandhi is to strip the Bill of its moral compass and historical legitimacy,” he added.

Congress General Secretary and MP Priyanka Gandhi pointed out that the original Bill was passed with consensus across the political spectrum.

“The Modi government has an obsession with renaming schemes. Every time a name is changed, the government’s money gets spent. This scheme is named after Mahatma Gandhi ji, who is our Father of the Nation, and he should not be disrespected,” she said.

“When this law was made in this House, no political party expressed any disagreement. It was made into law with everyone’s consensus that it would provide 100 days of employment to the poor people of the country,” she said.

She alleged that the government had “slyly added two-three such things in this Bill” to create the impression that workdays had increased, while in reality the scheme would be weakened and would offer “no provision to increase earnings”.

Also Read: Unpaid wages, rigid rules, and low pay: What’s killing MGNREGS in Kerala?

‘Dilution of a universal, demand-driven law’

The CPI(M) described the proposed legislation as a fundamental departure from the character of MGNREGA and demanded that the VB GRAMG Bill be withdrawn immediately.

In a statement issued by its Polit Bureau on 15 December, the party said the Bill “completely negates the basic character of the MGNREGA, which is a universal, demand-driven law providing a limited right to work”.

The CPI(M) said the new law would legally absolve the Union government of its responsibility to allocate funds in response to demand. It rejected the government’s claim that the guaranteed employment days were being increased from 100 to 125, calling it “merely cosmetic”.

The party also opposed the provision allowing governments to suspend employment for up to 60 days during peak agricultural seasons. Such a move, it said, would deny work to rural households “when it is most needed” and make them dependent on landlords.

The CPI(M) warned that mandating digital attendance at worksites would cause “immense difficulties” for workers, including loss of work and denial of rights.

Calling for the Bill’s immediate withdrawal, the CPI(M) said the Union government should instead hold consultations with political parties, trade unions and organisations of the rural poor to strengthen MGNREGA and ensure its effective implementation as a universal and rights-based employment guarantee.

Also Read: Rs 14,600 crore MGNREGS dues pending: South India bears one-third burden

‘A gross injustice to the poor’

The AITC accused the Centre of first blocking ₹52,000 crore in MGNREGA wages meant for workers in West Bengal and of now attempting to evade accountability by scrapping the scheme’s name.

“Now, instead of paying what is due, the Centre has chosen to scrap the name MGNREGA itself and replace it with a new name. This is an attempt to escape accountability,” the party said in a statement on X.

“If governance was the intent, wages would have been released. If improvement was the goal, workers would not have been punished,” the statement read. “Rename the scheme if you want, BJP India, but Bengal remembers that the injustice still bears your signature.”

In another statement, the party accused the BJP of seeking to erase Mahatma Gandhi from public memory.

“Those who revere Gandhi’s assassin will, inevitably, try to erase Mahatma Gandhi from history itself,” it said, describing the removal of the word ‘Mahatma’ as “a sinister attempt to rewrite history, distort national memory, and attack the very moral foundations of India”.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam President MK Stalin also opposed the Bill, saying the Union government was “sabotaging and utterly destroying Mahatma Gandhi’s 100 Days Employment Guarantee Scheme”.

In a statement on X, he said the scheme had rescued crores of people from poverty and enabled them to live with dignity.

“Out of spite towards the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, they have removed his name and imposed a northern language name that doesn’t even enter the mouth!” he said. He alleged that a scheme earlier implemented with full Union funding would now receive only 60 percent support from the Centre.

He also said that Tamil Nadu was being penalised because it had made significant progress in reducing poverty.

“Because it is a State without poverty, the benefits of this scheme will be available to the people of Tamil Nadu only to a lesser extent than what exists,” he said, and urged the Centre to abandon the VB G Ram G scheme, warning that public pressure would force it to retreat, just as it had been forced to do on the contentious farm laws.

(Edited by Dese Gowda)

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