Congress to protest MGNREGA dilution, calls it ‘Not winter but pollution session’

A day after Parliament passed the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill—replacing the 20-year-old MGNREGA introduced during the UPA era—the Congress on Friday accused the Modi government of being fundamentally anti-worker and undermining rural livelihoods.

Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh announced that the party would launch a massive nationwide protest against what it termed the “dilution” of MGNREGA, with the roadmap to be finalised at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting on 27 December.

According to sources, the CWC meeting will deliberate on the contours of nationwide protests, with members being asked to submit proposals to chalk out a coordinated roadmap of agitation.

Speaking to the media, CWC permanent invitee and MP Manickam Tagore said, “MGNREGA was introduced by our party as a guarantee of employment for the rural poor. The totalitarian Modi government is now targeting this landmark legislation. Its dilution will hit rural livelihoods hard and trigger a surge in migration from villages to cities. We will take this fight from Parliament to the streets.”

Echoing Tagore, Ramesh alleged that the Bill was pushed through Parliament without adequate discussion or consensus, accusing the Modi government of reducing Parliament to a mere rubber stamp.

Highlighting what he called the hollowing out of parliamentary procedure, Ramesh said the government had informed MPs that 14 bills would be taken up, with 12 being substantive.

“Shockingly, five bills were not even brought before the House. In such circumstances, prior intimation by the government becomes meaningless,” he said.

Launching a sharp political strike on the last day of the winter session , Ramesh remarked, “This wasn’t the ‘winter session’; it was the ‘pollution session’.”

He accused the government of denying the link between air pollution and lung damage. “Multiple scientific reports have shown that pollution is causing serious illnesses and irreparable harm to lungs, yet the government is choosing to deny facts,” he said.

The Congress leader also criticised the abrupt adjournment of Parliament, noting that despite repeated demands by the opposition for a detailed discussion on pollution in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, the Houses were suddenly adjourned sine die.

The Congress leader further accused the government of running a sustained campaign to malign the founding figures of the Republic. “The Modi government began this session by defaming Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore and Jawaharlal Nehru, and ended it by insulting Mahatma Gandhi,” he said.

Earlier in the day, Ramesh took a swipe at the government’s penchant for renaming schemes, tweeting that it was suffering from “acute acronym-itis.” Sharing a cartoon, he mocked what he called a new “A.C.R.O.N.Y.M Mantralaya”—the Administrative Commission for Renaming Old Schemes — New Yet Meaningless. “The PM is suffering from a case of acute acronym-itis,” he wrote.

 The Congress’s offensive comes amid a broader opposition narrative that the government is weakening rights-based welfare architecture built over two decades, replacing statutory guarantees with rebranded, executive-driven schemes.