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New Delhi: After the Narendra Modi-led Union government’s sudden move to list a Bill that seeks to rename the United Progressive Alliance-era (UPA-era) Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), on Monday (December 15) was met with criticism from opposition members and activists, it was ultimately not introduced in the Lok Sabha. 

While The Viksit Bharat—Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill, which will have the acronym VB–G RAM G Act, was listed in the supplementary list of business; it was later not introduced in the Lok Sabha. Opposition members have accused the government of erasing Mahatma Gandhi’s name, and dismantling the first of its kind law that guaranteed work for 100 days, based on demand to rural households.

In a statement, Rajya Sabha leader of opposition and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said that the Bill was “not just about renaming the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act” but a “BJP-RSS [Bharatiya Janata Party-Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh] conspiracy to end MGNREGA.”

“Erasing Gandhi’s name on the centenary of the Sangh shows how hollow and hypocritical those are who, like Modi ji, offer flowers to Bapu on foreign soil. The government that recoils from the rights of the poor is the one that attacks MGNREGA,” he said.

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