The Opposition on Tuesday staged a protest outside Parliament, holding placards and raising slogans against the Centre over its move to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
Raising slogans such as "Gandhiji ka ye apman, nahi sahega Hindustan" and "Mahatma Gandhi Amar Rahe", Opposition parliamentarians accused the BJP-led Centre of removing the name of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, from the rural employment scheme.
Opposition MPs objected to the renaming of the flagship employment programme and marched within the Parliamentary premises to the statue of Mahatma Gandhi, where they continued their protest.
The demonstration followed the introduction of the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G), 2025, a Bill that seeks to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.
Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan introduced the Bill in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, triggering sharp reactions from Opposition members who questioned the rationale behind removing Mahatma Gandhi's name from a landmark welfare scheme that has been in existence for nearly two decades.
"The truth is that under the pretext of changing the scheme's name, they want to scrap it. Why do they want to change the name of this scheme? Mahatma Gandhi is the Father of the Nation," Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra told reporters during the protest.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, speaking to IANS, questioned the logic behind the "renaming" exercise. "How will the change in the name benefit the farmers of the country? This politics of changing the name first started in Uttar Pradesh, and now it has arrived in Delhi also," he said.
Congress General Secretary K.C. Venugopal also strongly criticised the Centre for replacing the scheme.
Speaking to IANS, Venugopal said, "This is an insult to the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi. We are protesting because this is basically the anti-national attitude of the BJP to insult Mahatma Gandhi and kill the MGNREGA scheme."
Samajwadi Party MP Awadhesh Prasad told IANS, "This is an insult to Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation. Lord Ram is respected in the entire country and the world. The one who is insulting Lord Ram is these people (ruling party)."
The Opposition maintained that the proposed replacement of MGNREGA and the removal of Mahatma Gandhi's name reflected a deeper attempt to dilute a crucial employment guarantee programme.
(With inputs from IANS)
