Daijiworld Media Network – Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Jan 27: Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah and deputy chief minister D K Shivakumar were taken into preventive custody on Tuesday, Januray 27, along with Congress general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala, several ministers, MLAs and MPs during the ‘Raj Bhavan Chalo’ protest against the Union government’s decision to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) with the VB-G RAM G Act.
Police stopped the Congress leaders when they attempted to march towards Lok Bhavan and later detained them as a precautionary measure. The leaders boarded buses deployed by the police after addressing party workers and supporters, thereby courting arrest.
Addressing the gathering before his detention, Siddaramaiah strongly criticised the Centre’s move, stating that MGNREGA was a legally guaranteed right to livelihood introduced by the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government. He alleged that the new VB-G RAM G framework diluted employment guarantees and curtailed the powers of gram panchayats.
Clarifying the terminology, the chief minister said the ‘Ram’ in VB-G RAM G does not represent any religious symbolism but stands for Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Aajivika Mission (Gramin). He alleged that under MGNREGA, each panchayat earlier received around Rs one crore annually, which would now be lost, severely affecting rural employment.
Siddaramaiah accused the BJP-led Union government of attacking rural India and called upon people to launch protests in every village across Karnataka until MGNREGA is restored. “Unless villages develop, the nation cannot develop. By scrapping MGNREGA, Mahatma Gandhi’s vision is being undermined,” he said.
Deputy chief minister Shivakumar warned of political repercussions for the BJP, stating that rural India would not accept VB-G RAM G. He said the Congress would continue its agitation both inside and outside the legislature until the Act is withdrawn.
Earlier, announcing the protest, Shivakumar said the Congress would also move a resolution in the Legislative Assembly seeking rollback of the VB-G RAM G Act, drawing parallels with the repeal of the farm laws after sustained protests. He said protests would be intensified after the ongoing session, with rallies planned across assembly constituencies and gram panchayat limits involving party leaders, panchayat members and beneficiaries.
Surjewala alleged that the Union government was systematically dismantling the rural employment guarantee framework and eroding the constitutional role of panchayats. He urged the state government to rename panchayat centres as ‘Mahatma Gandhi Kendra’ to honour the legacy of the scheme.
The Congress leaders reiterated that MGNREGA, launched 20 years ago, guaranteed employment as a right to rural citizens and that the new Act fails to offer similar legal protection.
The protest formed part of the Congress party’s broader statewide agitation against the Centre’s policy changes, which the party claims are anti-poor, anti-worker and against the spirit of decentralisation enshrined in the Constitution.