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New Delhi: Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Saturday accused the Modi government of “bulldozing” the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), asserting that lakhs of Congress workers across the country would defy the new law replacing it.

In a video message, Gandhi alleged that by weakening MGNREGA, the Centre had struck at the livelihood interests of crores of farmers, labourers and landless people. She said that over the past 11 years, the government had consistently ignored the concerns of the rural poor.

Recalling the passage of MGNREGA 20 years ago during the tenure of then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Gandhi said the law had been enacted by consensus and proved to be a “revolutionary step” in providing livelihood security to the poorest sections. She said the scheme curbed distress migration, created a legal right to employment and strengthened gram panchayats, moving India closer to Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of Gram Swaraj.

“It is a matter of deep regret that the government has now run a bulldozer over MGNREGA,” Gandhi said, alleging that not only was Mahatma Gandhi’s name removed, but the structure and spirit of the law were altered without consultation or debate. She claimed that under the new framework, employment decisions would be centralised in Delhi, far removed from ground realities.

Stressing that MGNREGA was never a party-specific initiative, Gandhi said it was linked to national and public interest. “By weakening this law, the Modi government has attacked the interests of crores of farmers, labourers and landless poor across rural India,” she said, adding that the Congress would resist what she described as a “black law” from Parliament to the grassroots.

Parliament on Thursday passed the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill, which replaces the 20-year-old Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. The Bill, which guarantees 125 days of rural wage employment annually, was cleared amid strong Opposition protests over the removal of Mahatma Gandhi’s name and concerns that the financial burden would increasingly shift to states.

Defending the legislation, Union Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the new law was necessary to address shortcomings in the old scheme, a claim the Opposition has rejected, vowing to intensify its agitation nationwide.