Cong to oppose MGNREGA scrapping, slams Centre for running from debate on pollution

The Congress on Friday termed Parliament's Winter Session a "polluted session" and targetted the BJP-led government for the passage of the VB G Ram G Bill to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) without proper debate or consultation.

- ANAND SINGH

The party said it would strongly oppose the scrapping of MGNREGA and that the issue and its strategy would be discussed at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting on December 27.

The party also accused the government of running away from the debate on pollution that is not only affecting the national capital but the entire country. It alleged that the aim of the entire Winter Session was to insult the greatest Indian leaders and founding fathers of modern India — Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.

Addressing a press conference here, party General Secretary and in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh warned that the scrapping of MGNREGA could be part of a broader pattern, suggesting that laws such as the RTI Act, Forest Rights Act, Land Acquisition Act, and Food Security Act could be targeted next.

Ramesh said that the Winter Session started with insulting Gurudev Tagore and ended up insulting the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi.

In between, he added, the government as usual insulted and tried to malign the first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, also.

He asserted that the Congress will not take the scrapping of the MGNREGA lying down.