Opposition MPs Protest G RAM G Bill in Parliament

Opposing the Bill, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said all Opposition parties were united against it and warned that it would effectively dismantle the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). “We will strongly oppose this Bill. From any perspective, it will finish off MGNREGA. The proposal to increase work days from 100 to 125 is deceptive. Anyone who reads the Bill carefully will realise that the scheme will be destroyed in a short time,” she said.

Reacting to the passage of the Bill amid Opposition protests, Priyanka Gandhi told reporters that shifting the financial burden to States would eventually cripple the scheme. “Once the burden falls on the States, the scheme will slowly die, because State governments do not have enough funds, especially those that need this scheme the most,” she said, adding that the legislation was against the poor and labourers.

Echoing the criticism, Kharge said the Opposition would launch a nationwide agitation against the Bill. Holding a large banner reading “Mahatma Gandhi NREGA”, Opposition MPs marched from the Gandhi statue at Prerna Sthal to Makar Dwar, raising slogans against the government.

Those who participated in the protest included Kharge, AICC general secretary K.C. Venugopal, DMK MPs Kanimozhi, T.R. Baalu and A. Raja, IUML leader E.T. Mohammed Basheer, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Arvind Sawant and RSP MP N.K. Premachandran, among others.

In a post on X later, Kharge accused the Modi government of undermining both Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy and the right to work. “The Modi government has not only insulted the Father of the Nation but has also crushed the right to work, which played a key role in transforming rural India,” he said, adding that the opposition would fight the government “from Parliament to the streets”.