Modi giving resources to corporates, abandoning poor: Kharge on MGNREGA stir

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday intensified his attack on the Centre for repealing the UPA-era Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and replacing it with the new Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-GRAMG), alleging that the Modi government is “anti-people” and determined to cripple welfare architecture built over two decades.

The remarks came as the Congress staged coordinated protests across multiple states on Sunday and Monday, with party workers holding marches, sit-ins and panchayat-level demonstrations demanding the restoration of MGNREGA and the scrapping of VB-GRAMG.

Senior leaders argued that the right-to-work scheme has been a lifeline for rural households, especially during agrarian distress and climate-linked shocks, and that the dismantling of the Act strikes at the core of rural economic resilience.

Kharge accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “handing over the country’s resources to big corporates” while abandoning the poor. He stressed that MGNREGA was legislated under former Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s stewardship during the Manmohan Singh government as an enforceable right under Article 41 of the Directive Principles.

“MGNREGA was a right to work… They have struck down an Act intended to fill the stomachs of the poor and help them,” Kharge told reporters, adding that the new law would “obstruct” panchayat functioning by shifting the funding ratio from 90:10 (Centre–state) to 60:40, imposing a 30 per cent additional burden on fiscally stressed states.

Kharge alleged that the broader goal is to phase out UPA-era welfare guarantees including the Right to Education and Right to Food Security. Responding to familiar attacks about corruption in MGNREGA, he pointed out that CAG audits have recorded the building of lakes, roads, school infrastructure and anganwadis under the programme. He reiterated that the Congress’ “fight will continue” and would not stop with the current agitation.

While the protests played out on the streets, Congress leaders also moved to frame the confrontation in terms of larger economic choices. On Monday, Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh warned that the upcoming 2026–27 Union Budget must address what he called the three most urgent economic challenges: sluggish private corporate investment, declining household savings, and deepening inequality. Without tackling these, he said, “higher GDP growth rates” — essential for large-scale job creation — would “simply not be sustainable”.

With the Budget session of Parliament slated from 28 January to 2 April, Ramesh pointed out that this will be the first Budget to reflect the recommendations of the 16th Finance Commission on the sharing of tax revenues between the Centre and states for 2026/27–2031/32. States, he noted, will be watching closely given that the Centre has just forced a new 60:40 cost-sharing formula into rural employment policy after dismantling MGNREGA.

He also cautioned that the Budget will test whether the government is willing to move beyond what he described as the “comfort zone of statistical illusions” and acknowledge actual economic stress on households.

Parliament will open with President Droupadi Murmu’s joint address, followed by the Economic Survey and the presentation of the Budget by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman. A recess from 13 February to 9 March will follow initial discussions.

Asked about the situation in poll-bound West Bengal, Kharge alleged that the BJP was attempting to undercut Opposition parties through mechanisms such as Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. He echoed Rahul Gandhi’s repeated warnings about "vote chori", saying the party would take the issue forward.

With PTI inputs