Chandigarh: Former Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda staged a massive protest today in Rohtak along with Congress workers. He said the Congress is committed to fighting against the dilution of MNREGA.
Reacting to the changes made in MNREGA, he said the BJP government has attacked the rights of Dalits, backward classes, the poor, villagers, and Panchayats.
He said the Congress stands firmly with the MNREGA workers and is running a campaign across the country to protect their employment.
Hooda said the BJP government started weakening MNREGA as soon as it came to power. “In an answer to a question asked by the Congress in Parliament revealed that more than 8 lakh MNREGA workers were registered in Haryana. But in 2024-25, the government provided 100 days of work to only 2100 families. The government neither provided work to the laborers nor gave them compensation as per the provisions of the scheme,” he said.
“This means that the BJP had already effectively ended this scheme in Haryana. Now, along with changing the name, the very existence of this scheme has been wiped out. The Congress will oppose this at every level and will force the government to withdraw this anti-people decision,” he added.
Hooda said that the MNREGA scheme, introduced by the Congress government, was meant to further Mahatma Gandhi’s Gram Swaraj campaign.
“The Budget for this scheme was determined based on demand, and there was no limit to the Budget under this law. All the states and districts were required to provide work to all those who demanded it.
“It was the responsibility of the Central government to release the Budget for all these workers, but now, that Budget has been divided between the Central and state governments in such a way that its allocation has become difficult,” he noted.
MLA BB Batra, former minister Subhash Batra, MLA Shakuntala Khatak, MLA Balram Dangi, District President Kuldeep KD, Balwan Ranga, former MLA Sant Kumar, Chakravarti Sharma, and other senior party workers were present.