The Opposition, lacking an argument, cried itself hoarse that by changing the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREGA) scheme, the Narendra Modi government was insulting the Father of the Nation. It was not a policy argument. It was an opinion which has no basis and cannot form part of an informed discussion on the need to revamp the rural employment scheme and align it with the larger vision of a ‘Viksit Bharat-2047’. Those who raised this point were themselves complicit in marginalising Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of rural employment and empowerment through Khadi.

When he became Prime Minister in 2014, Narendra Modi exposed how decades of neglect had pushed the Khadi industry to the margins of Indian governance and policy-making. Shorn of a roadmap and lacking a synergising vision, the KVIC was being used as a parking lot for select political protégés and cronies who felt left out.

Khadi embodied Mahatma Gandhi’s ideals. It represented his expectations from a free India, symbolised his vision of mass empowerment and prosperity, and actualised his commitment to India’s self-reliance. Yet those who claimed to be the Mahatma’s political and philosophical heirs paid lip service to his most cherished programme. They worked to make Khadi irrelevant in free India’s policy formulation.

Contrast that approach with Narendra Modi’s. In the last decade that he has been Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has led a historic turnaround in the Khadi sector. In the financial year 2024-25, the KVIC has seen a record turnover of Rs 1.70 lakh crore. In the last decade, KVIC’s production has increased nearly fourfold, while Khadi sales have gone up nearly six-fold. From 1.30 crore in 2013-14, the Khadi sector now employs 1.94 crore people. Going much beyond the symbolic, this is a real tribute to the vision of Mahatma Gandhi. The Opposition to Modi would obviously want us to overlook this reality because it makes them squirm. Their shouts in the name of Mahatma Gandhi are mere posturing and opposition for the sake........

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