Defiance marked the air in Lucknow as Congress UP head Avinash Pandey confronted a fortress-like police presence, vowing to escalate the fight for MGNREGA workers’ justice. The 40-day statewide mobilization via protests and panchayat-level discussions signals deepening unrest over policy shifts.
Pandey lambasted the alterations to MGNREGA as a full-scale robbery of laborers’ hard-won rights, from job guarantees to wage security. This crusade, he stressed, endures until full restitution, with Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi’s prior interventions amplifying the uproar.
He leveled serious charges of legislative mutilation aimed at dismantling a cornerstone of rural empowerment, a move Congress stands resolute against.
Efforts to reach the assembly were stonewalled by beefed-up security, turning leaders’ homes into no-go zones—a tactic Pandey equated to imperial-era subjugation, worthy of utmost condemnation.
Democracy thrives on dialogue, not diktats, Pandey asserted, cautioning that a government blind to workers’ woes invites its own ouster by a vigilant electorate ready to reclaim their due.