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Rohtak/Chandigarh: Former Haryana Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Sunday led a massive protest in Rohtak against what he described as the dilution and effective dismantling of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) by the BJP-led Union government.
Addressing Congress supporters, Hooda reaffirmed the scheme’s significance, aiming to make rural workers and supporters feel their rights are vital and worth defending.
Reacting sharply to the recent changes in the scheme, Hooda alleged that the BJP government had attacked the constitutional and economic rights of Dalits, backward classes, people with low incomes, villagers and panchayats. “The Congress stands firmly with MNREGA workers. We will fight this battle on the streets, in Parliament and in every democratic forum,” he said.
‘MNREGA Already Crippled in Haryana’
Hooda pointed out that MNREGA has been systematically weakened in Haryana, with only 2,100 families receiving the mandated 100 days of work during 2024–25, despite over eight lakh registered workers.
“The government neither provided work to labourers nor paid unemployment allowance, which is clearly mandated under the law,” he said. “This means MNREGA was already virtually shut down in Haryana. Now, with a change in name and structure, the very existence of the scheme has been erased,” Hooda alleged. He asserted that the Congress would oppose the decision at every level and would “force the government to withdraw this anti-people move”.
‘Betrayal of Gandhian Vision’
Recalling the origins of MNREGA, Hooda said a Congress-led government introduced the scheme to advance Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of Gram Swaraj. “The law was demand-driven. There was no budgetary cap. Every state and district was legally bound to provide work to anyone who demanded it, and it was the Centre’s responsibility to release the required funds,” he said.
He alleged that the BJP government had now altered the funding structure in a way that shifts financial burden onto states, making allocations uncertain and undermining the legal guarantee of employment.
Congress Leaders Join Protest
Several senior Congress leaders and legislators participated in the protest, including BB Batra, former minister Subhash Batra, MLAs Shakuntala Khatak and Balram Dangi, district president Kuldeep KD, Balwan Ranga, former MLA Sant Kumar, Chakravarti Sharma, and a large number of party workers. The Congress leadership reiterated that MNREGA remains a lifeline for rural India, and any attempt to weaken it would be met with sustained political and public resistance.
