Modi government ‘killing’ rural employment scheme: Congress MP Hooda

Congress MP and senior leader Dipender Hooda alleged that the Centre had forcibly pushed through legislation that dismantles the world’s largest employment guarantee programme started by the UPA government led by Manmohan Singh.

Speaking to reporters at Gandhi Bhavan along with Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president Mahesh Kumar Goud, alleged that the BJP-led government had systematically weakened the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) since 2014 by slashing budgets, withholding statutory dues to states, deleting job cards and excluding nearly seven crore workers through Aadhaar-based payment mandates.

As a result, the scheme now provides barely 50 to 55 days of employment annually under the guise of reforms, he said and warned that converting MGNREGA from a demand-driven, rights-based law into a centrally controlled, capped scheme amounted to a rollback of Article 21 of the Constitution. He also criticised the Centre for shifting a financial burden of nearly Rs 50,000 crore onto states while retaining full control over rules and credit.

Mr. Hooda called the move an “open declaration of war on rural livelihoods” and said Congress would oppose the policy on every platform, from Parliament to the streets.

He also welcomed the court’s dismissal of the ED case in the National Herald issue, terming it a decisive blow to what he described as Modi-Shah’s politics of vendetta. The verdict exposed the misuse of central agencies to harass political opponents and vindicated Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

Mr. Mahesh Goud stated that truth had prevailed over political conspiracy, and reiterated the Congress party’s commitment to defending democracy, federalism and constitutional institutions, which he claimed were being dismantled by the BJP government. Former MP Madhu Yaskhi Goud and TPCC Media Committee Chairman Sama Rammohan Reddy were also present.