Removing Mahatma Gandhi’s name from MGNREGA an insult: Manipur Congress

Manipur Congress on Monday came down heavily on the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre accusing it of insulting the legacy of the Father of the Nation, whose philosophy of Sarvodaya and social justice inspired the law.
During a news conference held at Imphal Congress Bhavan on Sunday, leaders of the Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) strongly reacted to the removal of the name of Mahatma Gandhi from the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), While criticizing the BJP-led NDA government for the recent dropping the name of Mahatma Gandhi and rechristening it as the Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Aajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill (VB-G RAM G Bill), Okram Ibobi Singh questioned the rationale behind dropping Mahatma Gandhi’s name with a different nomenclature. Singh alleged that there was no justification for removing the name of the Father of the Nation from a welfare scheme closely associated with his ideals.
“Why is the name of Mahatma Gandhi dropped in the recent amendment,” he asked, asserting that the Congress party strongly condemned the BJP-led NDA government’s move in the strongest term. Also attending the news conference, MPCC president K Meghachandra Singh, said that the Congress party was deeply unhappy and strongly opposed the recent move of the Centre. “The amendment strikes at the very foundation of a landmark rights-based legislation,” he said.
Singh also echoed that removing the name of “Mahatma Gandhi” from the scheme was a direct insult to the legacy of the Father of the Nation, whose philosophy of Sarvodaya and social justice inspired the law. He further asserted that the new Act weakened the rights-based, demand-driven guarantee of employment, thereby depriving rural workers of their legally enforceable right to work.
Expressing serious concern over the changed funding pattern, he said that shifting a greater financial burden onto states will also severely weaken poorer and resource-constrained states, like Manipur.
He warned that the new framework would undermine the spirit of federalism by centralizing control and reducing the autonomy of states and local bodies.
“The Congress Party will continue to stand with rural workers, farmers and the poor, and will oppose any attempt to dilute their hard-won rights,” he added.