A day after G RAM G bill was passed by the Parliament, senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on Saturday termed it as ‘black law’ and vowed that her party will fight back on this .In a video message, sharpening attack against Centre, she said that by weakening MGNREGA, the Modi government had attacked the interests of crores of farmers, labourers, and landless across the country.
Sonia, who is also Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson accused Modi government of bulldozing the MGNREGA, and asserted that the "black law" that seeks to repeal it will be defied by the lakhs of party workers across the country.She alleged that over the past 11 years, the Centre had ignored the interests of the rural poor.
Addressing the rural population, Gandhi said she vividly remembers the day 20 years ago, when Manmohan Singh was prime minister, and the MGNREGA Act was passed in Parliament by consensus. The former party president said it was "such a revolutionary step," and became a means of livelihood for the deprived, the exploited, and the poorest of the poor.
She said, due to MGNREGA, migration in search of work came to a halt, a legal right to employment was provided, and gram panchayats were empowered."Through MGNREGA, a concrete step was taken towards realising the dream of an India based on Mahatma Gandhi's vision of Gram Swaraj," she said.
"But it is a matter of great regret that just recently, the government ran a bulldozer over MGNREGA. Not only was Mahatma Gandhi's name removed, but the form and structure of MGNREGA was changed arbitrarily without any deliberation, without consulting anyone, without taking the opposition into confidence," the Congress leader alleged.
She said under the new law, who gets how much employment, where and in what manner, will be decided by the government in Delhi, which is far removed from the ground realities.Claiming that the Congress had a major role in bringing and implementing MGNREGA, she said it was never a party-specific matter.
"It was a scheme connected to the national interest and the people's interest. By weakening this law, the Modi government has attacked the interests of crores of farmers, labourers, and landless poor in the rural sector across the country."We are all ready to counter this attack. Twenty years ago, I too fought to secure the right to employment for our poor brothers and sisters; today, I remain committed to fighting against this black law. All Congress leaders like me and lakhs of workers stand with you," Gandhi said in her video statement.The Congress earlier claimed that it would take its fight against the repeal law to the grassroots.
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