Destroying Gandhi’s Idea of Ram Rajya: Mahua Moitra Slams Govt on G RAM G Bill

New Delhi: Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra on Wednesday launched a blistering attack on the government over the G RAM G bill, saying it is destroying Mahatma Gandhi's idea of Ram Rajya both in letter and spirit by repealing MGNREGA and renaming the scheme.She also accused the government of "dishonouring" both Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore, who gave the title of Mahatma to the Father of the Nation, by renaming MGNREGA.

Participating in the debate on the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill, Moitra took a swipe at the government and said that this bill has shown that the government believes in -- "Na kisi ka saath, na kisi ka vikas, na Rahim ka na Ram ka".

Opposing the renaming and the replacement of the MGNREGA by the VB -- G RAM G bill, she said the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (MGNREGA) revolutionised rural India's idea of livelihood security.

"There was a historic consensus among all parties when they passed the bill and they shouted 'rozgar guarantee zindabad'. This was the history of the bill. In October, 2009, in keeping with the vision of the Father of the Nation's vision for rural self reliance in India, the name was changed to MGNREGA," the TMC MP said.

Moitra said that 16 years later with no consultation with any stakeholders, the government has introduced a bill to repeal MGNREGA.

"This is not an amendment you are replacing it with a VB -- G RAM G bill," she said.

Moitra said that it was Tagore, who popularised the name Mahatma, meaning the 'great soul' for Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.

"Some historians said other people before Gurudev had called Gandhi Mahatma but it is ironic that the High Court of PM's home state High Court, Justice Pardiwala, he declared in 2016 that it was Tagore who gave the title of Mahatma to Gandhi and all school text books should give the credit of the name Mahatma to Tagore," she said.

"What has this government done today, you've changed the name, you are dishonouring both the Mahatma and Gurudev. Is it any wonder that Bengal and Bengalis call you 'Bangla virodhi'," Moitra said.

She asked if this government thinks that it has been very smart by putting the acronym RAM in the bill.

Quoting Gandhi, she said, "By Ram Rajya I do not mean Hindu Raj, I mean divine Raj, the kingdom of God. Ram Rajya ensures equal rights for all, prince and pauper alike. It is a sovereignty of the people based on moral authority."

"By changing the name and repealing the act you have destroyed Gandhi ji's idea of Ram Rajya both in letter and in spirit," the TMC MP said.

She pointed out that before the suspension of fund releases in 2022, West Bengal was among the top performers of MGNREGA nationwide.

"Approximately 2.6 crore job card holders across 1.4 crore rural households were in Bengal. Since March 2022, the government has not released one single paisa to West Bengal. As of today the Centre has outstanding MGNREGA dues of Rs 52,000 crores," Moitra said.

"When we went to meet minister we were dragged by police," she said.

In the original bill, the scheme was central government funded and a demand driven programme providing for 100 days of work across rural India.

"This govt has used guarantee 92 times (in the new bill). New bill provides no guarantees at all," she said.

She said the provision of 60:40 basis of Centre-state expenditure-sharing would prove to be the "death knell" of the scheme.

"In an expenditure of Rs 10,000 crore, the distribution of 60:40 Centre-state spending would be Rs 6,000 crore and Rs 4000 crore. So, effectively the state share has gone up by 430 per cent, Moitra said.

Earlier, moving the bill for consideration and passage, Chouhan, the Union Rural Development Minister, said the legislation will ensure all-around development of villages and make them poverty-free, fuelling their growth journey.

According to the bill, it will provide a statutory guarantee of 125 days of wage employment in a financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to undertake unskilled manual work.

Within six months from the date of commencement of the VB-G RAM G Act, states will have to make a scheme consistent with the provisions of the new law.