MGNREGA was Gandhiji's Vision of Sarvodaya: Sonia Gandhi
Sonia Gandhi further claimed that several fundamental rights are facing systematic erosion under the current government
New Delhi: Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi has launched a sharp attack on the Central government, accusing it of dismantling the rights-based legislative framework through proposed changes to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and other key laws.
In an op-ed published in a leading English daily titled “The Bulldozed Demolition of MGNREGA”, Sonia Gandhi argued that weakening the rural employment scheme amounts to a collective moral failure, with long-term financial and human consequences for crores of working people across the country.
She wrote that MGNREGA was not merely a welfare initiative but a rights-based programme that ensured livelihood security and dignity for rural households. According to her, the erosion of the scheme reflects a failure to uphold constitutional values.
“MGNREGA realised the Mahatma’s vision of Sarvodaya (welfare of all) and enacted the constitutional right to work. Its death is our collective moral failure—one that will have financial and human consequences for crores of India’s working people for years to come,” she wrote, urging unity to safeguard hard-won rights.
Sonia Gandhi further claimed that several fundamental rights are facing systematic erosion under the current government.
Highlighting concerns over education, she said the Right to Education has been undermined by the National Education Policy 2020, which she alleged has legitimised the closure of around one lakh primary schools across the country.
She also raised concerns over changes to environmental and land-related laws, stating that the Forest Rights Act, 2006, was weakened by the Forest (Conservation) Rules, 2022, which removed the gram sabha’s role in approving forest land diversion.
Sonia Gandhi added that the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act has been significantly diluted, and claimed that the National Green Tribunal has been “emasculated” over the years.
Referring to agricultural reforms, she said the government attempted to deny farmers the right to a minimum support price through the three farm laws, and warned that the National Food Security Act, 2013, could be “next on the chopping block.”
