Priyanka challenges govt move to drop Mahatma Gandhi’s name from MGNREGA

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday mounted a sharp and emotive attack on the government over its proposed move to rename the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), questioning the intent behind removing the name of Mahatma Gandhi — a figure she described as the tallest leader not just of India, but of the world.

Reacting to the introduction of a new Bill in Parliament, Priyanka Gandhi said the decision to drop Gandhi’s name raised troubling questions. “Whenever a scheme’s name is changed, it triggers a cascade of administrative changes — offices, stationery, paperwork — all of which cost money. So what is the benefit? Why is it being done?” she asked, speaking to reporters in the Parliament House complex.

“Why remove Mahatma Gandhi’s name?” she continued. “He is regarded as the tallest leader not just in this country, but globally. I truly do not understand the objective. What is the intention behind this move?”

A Bill titled the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill, 2025 is set to be introduced in the Lok Sabha. According to the proposed legislation, the government intends to repeal the MGNREGA of 2005 and replace it with a new rural employment framework aligned with its vision of Viksit Bharat 2047. The Bill promises a statutory guarantee of 125 days of wage employment each financial year for rural households whose adult members are willing to undertake unskilled manual work.

The legislation was listed in the supplementary agenda of the Lok Sabha on Monday.

Priyanka Gandhi also lamented what she described as misplaced priorities in Parliament. “Even when we debate, it is on issues that are not the real concerns of the people. Time is being wasted, money is being wasted, and they are disrupting themselves,” she said.

Defending the proposed overhaul, rural development minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan acknowledged that MGNREGA has provided guaranteed wage employment to rural households for over two decades. However, he argued that further strengthening of the framework has become necessary in light of significant socio-economic changes in rural India, driven by expanded social security coverage and saturation of major welfare schemes.

As the Bill awaits debate, the proposed rechristening of one of India’s most recognisable welfare programmes has ignited a broader political and ideological clash — pitting questions of legacy and symbolism against the government’s vision of a reimagined rural development roadmap.

With PTI inputs