Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi
New Delhi, Dec 16: Opposition parties staged a protest outside Parliament on Tuesday, expressing strong objections to the Centre’s move to rename the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). Holding placards and raising slogans such as "Gandhiji ka ye apman, nahi sahega Hindustan" and "Mahatma Gandhi Amar Rahe," MPs accused the BJP-led government of removing the Father of the Nation’s name from the flagship rural employment scheme.
Protesting within Parliament premises, Opposition members marched to the statue of Mahatma Gandhi and continued their demonstration, objecting to the introduction of the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G), 2025, a Bill that seeks to replace MGNREGA.
Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan presented the Bill in the Lok Sabha, sparking sharp reactions from Opposition MPs who questioned the rationale behind stripping Mahatma Gandhi’s name from a programme that has existed for nearly two decades.
Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra accused the government of attempting to dismantle the scheme under the guise of renaming. “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,” she said.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav questioned the logic of the move, asking how the renaming would benefit farmers. “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 called the renaming an insult to Mahatma Gandhi, describing it as an “anti-national attitude” aimed at undermining MGNREGA. Samajwadi Party MP Awadhesh Prasad also condemned the move, linking it to broader disrespect for revered figures.
Opposition leaders collectively argued that the proposed replacement of MGNREGA and the removal of Gandhi’s name signal a deeper attempt to dilute the country’s key employment guarantee programme.