Gurdaspur/Hoshiarpur, Jan 8 : The Punjab Congress launched the ‘MGNREGA Bachao Sangram’ on Thursday and vowed to protect the UPA-era rural employment law, with party leaders saying the BJP-led government at the Centre would be forced to “restore” MGNREGA.
A day earlier, the Punjab unit of the BJP launched a statewide campaign to spread awareness about the VB-G RAM G Act, which replaced MGNREGA. The BJP has accused the Congress and the AAP of spreading “misinformation” about the new legislation.
At rallies held at Gurdaspur and Hoshiarpur’s Tanda, Congress leaders claimed that the Narendra Modi government would be “forced” to withdraw the VB-G RAM G law and restore MGNREGA, which, they claimed, has been acknowledged around the world as the best rural employment generation scheme.
Former Chhattisgarh chief minister and Congress general secretary in charge of Punjab, Bhupesh Bhagel, claimed that it was his party that had always taken decisions in favour of the working people and the marginalised sections of society.
“The Congress, under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, will fight strongly to protect MGNREGA,” he said, while adding the government will be forced to restore it in its original form, like it was forced to roll back the contentious three farm laws in 2021.
Bhagel claimed that the MGNREGA, which was launched in 2005 by the then Congress-led government under the guidance of Sonia Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh, was hailed worldwide as a pro-poor scheme.
After the VB-G RAM G law was passed during the recently concluded Winter Session of Parliament, the Congress leadership decided to be the voice of the labourers and marginalised sections “who will be hit by this”, he said.
Bhagel also hit out at the ruling Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab, accusing it of being the “B-team” of the BJP. The AAP government had not contributed even 10 per cent of its share for the MGNREGA scheme that it was required to do to provide jobs for the rural poor, he alleged.
Echoing Bhagel’s views, Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring said the MGNREGA scheme gave the rural poor dignity and was a key element in moving the rural economy by increasing people’s spending power.
On the VB-G RAM G Act’s stipulation of providing 125 workdays in the rural areas, he said the MGNREGA had guaranteed 100 days of work for the rural poor, but just 48 per cent of the commitment was fulfilled.
In Punjab, it was not even one per cent under the AAP government, Warring claimed. “When you cannot even provide 50 work days, how can anyone believe you when you say that you will be guaranteeing 125 work days?” he asked the BJP.
Claiming the AAP was no different from the BJP, Warring alleged that the Bhagwant Mann government only resorted to optics by holding an Assembly session and passing a resolution against the scrapping of the MGNREGA.
“What did it achieve on the ground?” he asked, and said the AAP government should have announced providing Rs 4,000 crore out of its own resources to provide work to the rural poor in Punjab.
Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, Partap Singh Bajwa, alleged that the BJP government at the Centre was being quite hostile towards Punjab, withholding Rs 9,000 crore rural development fund.
“With the scrapping of the MGNREGA, the rural poor will be further affected,” he added.
Bajwa also lashed out at the AAP government for its “complete failure on all fronts”. Law and order has completely collapsed, and the government was clueless, he alleged.
