Congress rule made MGNREGA the backbone of rural livelihoods; BJP is killing it in broad daylight: Thanesar MLA Ashok Arora

KURUKSHETRA: Senior Congress leader and Thanesar MLA Ashok Arora on Saturday accused the BJP-led central government of deliberately weakening and attempting to dismantle the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) by removing its legal guarantee of work. Addressing a press conference at the Congress Bhawan in Kurukshetra under the party’s MGNREGA Bachao Abhiyan, Arora said the BJP’s actions amounted to the “murder of MGNREGA in broad daylight,” which the Congress would never tolerate.The joint press conference was attended by Pehowa MLA Mandeep Chatta, Shahabad MLA Ram Karan Kala and former MP Kailasho Saini. Arora said the Congress had prepared a detailed statewide agitation programme against the alleged dilution of MGNREGA. As part of the campaign, press conferences were being held in every district of Haryana on the same day. On January 11, Congress workers will observe a one-day protest at district headquarters by paying homage at statues of Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi.Arora alleged that by removing Mahatma Gandhi’s name from the scheme and altering its framework, the Centre had destroyed its very soul. He said the Congress would continue its struggle until the original form of MGNREGA was restored.Highlighting the scheme’s significance, Arora said MGNREGA was introduced by the UPA government in 2005, guaranteeing employment on demand to any unemployed rural household. Under the Act, work had to be provided within 15 days, ensuring at least 100 days of employment every year. This made MGNREGA the backbone of rural livelihoods, providing employment to 5–6 crore families annually.He alleged that the BJP government had ended the legal right to work and now intended to decide unilaterally where work would be provided and where it would not. The Congress, he asserted, would fight the alleged changes from the streets to Parliament and would not allow any compromise with the scheme’s original character.