New Delhi, Dec 16: The Congress on Monday mounted a strong attack on the Centre over the proposed Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (G-RAM-G) Bill, 2025, which seeks to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) alleging that the move undermines workers’ rights and dilutes Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy.
The opposition party said removing Mahatma Gandhi’s name from the flagship rural employment scheme exposes what it described as the “hollow and hypocritical” nature of the BJP government’s claims of respecting Gandhian values.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge alleged that the proposed legislation was part of a conspiracy by the BJP-RSS to dismantle MGNREGA and weaken the rights of the rural poor. He said the party would oppose any attempt to roll back a rights based guarantee for millions of workers.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor termed the controversy over renaming MGNREGA as unfortunate and cautioned against diluting Gandhi’s moral and ideological legacy. He said the concepts of Gram Swaraj and Ram Rajya were never in conflict but were twin pillars of Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy and replacing his name ignored this profound symbiosis.
The Congress alleged that the new Bill attacks the soul of a demand driven, rights based programme and replaces it with a centrally controlled and conditional scheme stacked against states and workers. The party claimed the proposed framework would shift a greater financial burden onto state governments and undermine labour protections.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also questioned the rationale behind renaming the scheme, saying it would lead to unnecessary expenditure on administrative changes without any clear benefit to the poor.
The opposition has demanded that the G-RAM-G Bill, along with other far reaching legislations, be referred to the relevant Parliamentary Standing Committees for detailed scrutiny and wider consultation.
According to the proposed Bill, rural households would be entitled to a statutory guarantee of 125 days of wage employment annually up from 100 days under MGNREGA. However unlike the existing scheme funding under the new law would be shared between the Centre and states, and the Centre would determine state-wise allocations and wage rates thereby reducing the demand driven nature of the programme, the Congress said.
