With the Cabinet approving a Bill to rename the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), the Congress on Saturday said the Modi government is a “master” at renaming schemes and asked “what is wrong with the name Mahatma Gandhi” that it had to take this step. Reacting to the development, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the Modi government is a “master” at renaming schemes and laws.
“They renamed the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan to Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, and the rural LPG distribution programme to Ujjwala. They are experts in re-packaging and branding,” he told PTI. “They hate Pandit Nehru but it seems they also hate Mahatma Gandhi. What’s wrong with the name Mahatma Gandhi, why rename the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act to Pujya Bapu Employment Guarantee Scheme?” Ramesh said.
The Union Cabinet on Friday approved a Bill to rename the MGNREGA and increase the number of work days, sources said. According to them, the scheme will now be renamed as ‘Poojya Bapu Grameen Rozgar Yojna’, and the number of work days under it would be increased from 100 days at present to 125 days.
Congress general secretary in-charge organisation K C Venugopal said the PM, who once called MGNREGA a “monument of failure”, is now renaming it to claim credit for the revolutionary scheme.
“It’s yet another way of erasing Mahatma Gandhi from our national psyche, especially from the villages, where, he said, India’s soul resides,” he alleged.
“This move is also nothing but a cosmetic change to paper over the deliberate neglect being meted out to this scheme,” Venugopal said on X.
MGNREGA workers have been demanding higher wages, but the Centre has been reducing allocated funds for the scheme year after year, he said.
“The arrears keep piling up, and it seems to be a carefully planned strategy to engineer a slow death for the scheme. In reality, this government has no intent of delivering welfare – and is merely putting up a pretence when it has run out of ideas,” Venugopal alleged.
“But Mr Modi, rename it all you want, the people know it was Dr Manmohan Singh ji and Smt Sonia Gandhi ji who brought this transformative scheme to every village of India,” he said.
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, better known as MGNREGA or NREGA, is a flagship scheme of the government aimed at enhancing livelihood security of households in the rural areas by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. It was enacted in 2005.
BJP slams Cong for criticising
The BJP said on Saturday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to rename the rural job guarantee scheme was not to alter its name but to change its “spirit”.
Hitting back at the Congress following its criticism on renaming MGNREGA, BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said the opposition party and its leaders cannot understand the decision as they function with a sense of entitlement.
“The name on which the Congress considers its exclusive right belongs to the entire country,” the BJP leader said in an apparent reference to Mahatma Gandhi’s name.
The Union Cabinet approved a Bill on Friday to rename the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) as ‘Poojya Bapu Grameen Rozgar Yojna’. On Saturday, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh slammed the Modi government, saying it was a “master” at renaming schemes and asked what was wrong with having “Mahatma Gandhi” in the name of the scheme. Congress general secretary in-charge (organisation) K C Venugopal said the prime minister, who once called the MGNREGA a “monument of failure”, is now renaming it to claim credit for the “revolutionary” scheme.
Hitting back, BJP’s Trivedi said, “The prime minister is not changing the name (of the scheme) but its spirit.” Prime Minister Modi has dedicated his entire life to the service of the nation and the people and he works with this spirit, the BJP leader said.
“But the Congress, which has worked with the principle of ‘aage-peeche hamri sarkar, hum hain yahan ke rajkumar’ (we are in rule everywhere, we are the royals), cannot understand the spirit with which the prime minister works,” he said, when asked about the Congress’s criticism of renaming MGNREGA.
On the Congress’s charge that the government was claiming credit for the scheme, Trivedi said the Congress has neither done any work that is useful nor worth taking any credit for.
“You renamed Kingsway as Rajpath because of the sense of raj (power). After Prime Minister Modi renamed it as Kartavya Path, it brought in a sense of duty,” Trivedi said.
“The name, 7 Race Course Road, gave a sense of royal horse riding. When it was renamed Lok Kalyan Marg, it brought a spirit of public welfare. Renaming of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) as Seva Tirth brought in a sense of service,” he added.