Former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda led a large protest in Rohtak on Sunday against the government's changes to MGNREGA. Hooda, who is the Leader of the Opposition, said that “his party is committed to fighting against the dilution of the scheme.” Several other senior leaders of the party were part of the protest.
Further protesting the changes made, Hooda said that the government of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has attacked the rights of Dalits, backward classes, the poor, villagers, and panchayats.
He then reaffirmed Congress’s stand with the MNREGA workers, adding that the party is running a campaign across India to protect their employment.
Hooda said the BJP started weakening MNREGA as soon as it came to power. The MNREGA scheme was introduced by the Congress.
“In an answer to a question asked by the Congress in Parliament revealed that more than 8 lakh MNREGA workers were registered in Haryana. But in 2024-25, the government provided 100 days of work to only 2100 families. The government neither provided work to the labourers nor gave them compensation as per the provisions of the scheme,” he said.
“This means that the BJP had already effectively ended this scheme in Haryana. Now, along with changing the name, the very existence of this scheme has been wiped out. The Congress will oppose this at every level and will force the government to withdraw this anti-people decision,” he added.
Hooda said that the scheme, introduced by the Congress government, was meant to further Mahatma Gandhi's Gram Swaraj campaign.
“The budget for this scheme was determined based on demand, and there was no limit to the budget under this law. All the states and districts were required to provide work to all those who demanded it.
“It was the responsibility of the central government to release the budget for all these workers, but now, that budget has been divided between the central and state governments in such a way that its allocation has become difficult,” he noted.
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