CPI Activists Stage Half-Naked Protest Against Renaming NREGA
Party opposes removal of Mahatma Gandhi’s name from rural job scheme
Kakinada: CPI activists on Monday staged a half-naked protest at the Mahatma Gandhi statue in Gandhinagar Park, opposing the Centre’s move to change the name associated with the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
The activists reached the venue in a procession and staged a knee-down, half-naked demonstration, raising slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They demanded that the Union government restore Mahatma Gandhi’s name to the NREGA scheme and withdraw the proposed changes.
Leading the protest, CPI state secretariat member T. Madhu questioned the rationale behind removing Gandhi’s name and alleged a conspiracy to dilute and eventually repeal the NREGA scheme, which he said would push rural people into unemployment.
Leaders of the Andhra Pradesh Vyavasaya Karmika Sangham and CPI leaders K. Bodakonda, Thokala Prasad, P. Satyanarayana, S. Ramakrishna and others participated in the protest.