Rebranding mode

The Indian National Congress has reacted sharply to the recent bill passed in Parliament, pushed through on the strength of numbers, which effectively rechristens the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), earlier known as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005, as the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin), abbreviated as VB-G RAM G. The outrage is not merely about semantics but reflects a deeper unease over the ideological direction in which governance under the Bharatiya Janata Party is moving.MGNREGA, launched in 2006 under the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was never just another welfare scheme. It guaranteed 100 days of wage employment to rural households and became a crucial buffer against distress migration, agrarian volatility, and chronic poverty. For millions, it functioned as an economic lifeline rather than a political symbol. The central question is straightforward : does altering the name improve delivery, accountability, or outcomes on the ground?.The BJP argues that the new nomenclature reflects the aspiration of a “Viksit Bharat”, a developed India that looks forward rather than backward. Critics counter that a change of label cannot compensate for persistent issues such as delayed wage payments, shrinking real allocations, and administrative bottlenecks that continue to plague the scheme. This name changing or putting old wine in new bottle episode, fits seamlessly into a broader pattern visible since 2014. The Congress claims that over three dozen welfare programmes conceptualised between 1975 and 2013 have been rebranded under the National Democratic Alliance. Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan became Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, the rural LPG initiative was repackaged as Ujjwala, and the National Skill Development Mission gave way to Skill India. These shifts are not cosmetic accidents; they consistently privilege Hindi nomenclature and new symbolic frameworks, reinforcing a cultural and political reset.At the heart of this exercise lies the BJP’s long-stated project of “decolonisation”, an idea closely associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and echoed frequently by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Names linked to the Nehru-Gandhi legacy are being replaced by figures drawn from the BJP’s ideological lineage such as Deen Dayal Upadhyaya or Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The message is unmistakable as history is being reordered.This extends beyond welfare schemes into the physical and symbolic landscape of governance. The Central Vista redevelopment, another strategy, stands as the most visible expression of this transformation. Rajpath’s rechristening as Kartavya Path in 2022, the relegation of the old Parliament building to a secondary role, and the restructuring of North and South Blocks into a museum complex together signal a deliberate departure from Lutyens’ Delhi. Supporters hail these moves as bold modernisation, necessary to align India’s infrastructure with its ambitions. Detractors see a politically driven makeover where symbolism outweighs substance, undertaken at breakneck speed with contested environmental clearances and ballooning costs. In an opposition landscape fractured by regional compulsions, the ruling party faces little resistance, allowing governance and cultural nationalism to merge almost seamlessly.Ultimately, the renaming of MGNREGA is not an isolated administrative act; it is part of a larger narrative shift. Whether this rewriting delivers tangible improvements or merely stages ideological theatre remains the unresolved question. For rural India, names matter far less than timely wages, adequate funding, and dignity of work as in reality, rebranding alone offers no guarantee.