A dramatic display of rural defiance unfolded at Jawahar Bhawan, where Congress leaders rallied against the government’s pivot from MGNREGA to a restructured ‘Viksit Bharat’ scheme. Accusing the BJP of prioritizing politics over people, the ‘Save MGNREGA’ event united workers bearing soil from far-flung worksites, igniting a call for national resistance.
Sandeep Dikshit charged that the amendments serve only electoral calculus, sowing chaos among laborers. ‘We’re with them every step, scaling up the movement,’ he stated. The soil, carried at great personal cost, was ceremonially used for a sapling, a living testament to unity and labor’s legacy.
Imran Pratapgarhi recalled UPA’s transformative push for employment rights led by Manmohan, Sonia, and Rahul. The incumbent bill, he warned, endangers this by design, looting workers’ entitlements. Congress’s roadmap includes Rahul Gandhi’s intellectual forums and direct village-level advocacy.
Vikrant Bhuria pointed to the event’s scale, with organizations joining to blueprint a populist uprising. Alka Lamba indicted the ‘autocratic’ overhaul, erasing Gandhi’s imprint and legal guarantees without consultation. From Kharge downwards, the party commits to preserving MGNREGA’s integrity.
This visceral protest amplifies voices of distress, framing the debate as a battle for rural justice. As campaigns proliferate, it could force reckoning on employment policies pivotal to India’s hinterlands.