Hyderabad, Jan 8 (IANS) Telangana's ruling Congress on Thursday decided to organise a series of protests across the state for 45 days, demanding restoration of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).
The state Congress unit, at its meeting at party headquarters, Gandhi Bhavan, decided to fight against Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Aajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act (VB G RAM G), which was recently passed by the Parliament to replace the MGNREGS.
The meeting, presided over by state Congress unit chief Mahesh Kumar Goud and attended by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, AICC in-charge, Meenkashi Natrajan and other senior leaders chalked out the action plan to organise the protests.
The leaders termed VB G RAM G a "death sentence" for rural poor and vowed to highlight during the campaign the provisions of the new legislation which are against the interests of poor and farm labourers.
The party will organise Gram Sabhas in all 12,000-plus Gram Panchayats from January 20 to January 30 to pass resolutions demanding the restoration of MGNREGS. The resolutions will be sent to the President.
The party will also organise public meetings in all districts from February 3.
A mammoth public meeting is planned in Mulugu. Chief Minister Revanth Reddy announced that top Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi will be invited for the Mulugu meeting.
Slamming the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre for bringing a new Act replacing the MGNREGS, he claimed that 80 per cent of the 140 crore population in the country were the beneficiaries of the employment guarantee scheme introduced by the Congress government. He accused the Narendra Modi government of troubling the poor by changing the policy.
Revanth Reddy said MGNREGS had increased the self-respect of the poor. The Telugu states became the platform for the launch and implementation of the scheme.
He alleged that changes were made to the employment guarantee scheme so that some top industrialists could hire cheap labour.
"We will fight until MGNREGS is restored. We will make Narendra Modi apologise to the country on this matter," he said.
He noted that the state Assembly has already adopted a unanimous resolution protesting the changes to the MGNREGS. He said state MPs should also protest on the first day of the Budget session of Parliament.
He alleged that the BJP had conspired to change the Constitution if it had won 400 seats during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. He said Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge travelled across the country and alerted the people.
He came down heavily on the Modi government for introducing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voters’ list and alleged that it is trying to snatch the voting rights of the poor and minorities in the name of voter purification.
The Chief Minister also alleged that the Modi government is making attempts to grab extraordinary powers.
He noted that the Modi government introduced “anti-farmer” laws against which Rahul Gandhi fought and "succeeded in making Modi apologise to the farmers of the country and withdraw the laws".
--IANS
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