ITANAGAR, 18 Dec: Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Bosiram Siram on Thursday condemned the BJP-led central government’s move to rename and restructure the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) under the proposed VB-G RAM G Bill 2025, terming it a “politically driven, ideologically motivated and constitutionally dangerous exercise aimed at erasing Congress legacy and weakening a hard-won rights-based welfare law.”
Reacting to discussions held in the Parliament on 18 December regarding the proposal to rename MGNREGA as VB-G RAM G, Siram said that the issue goes far beyond nomenclature. “This is not about a name; this is about diluting the very soul of a rights-based employment guarantee and converting it into a discretionary government scheme,” he said.
The APCC president termed the controversy surrounding the proposed renaming of MGNREGA in the G-RAM-G Bill deeply unfortunate and intellectually dishonest, and said that the “MGNREGA is not a charity or a political favour, but a legal and constitutional guarantee enacted by Parliament, ensuring the right to work, dignity of labour, and livelihood security for crores of rural households across India.
“No amount of cosmetic rebranding can erase the historical fact that MGNREGA is a transformative Congress legacy, conceptualised under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi and implemented during the tenure of Dr Manmohan Singh,” he said.
Highlighting Arunachal’s unique challenges, Siram said that for a remote, border and tribal state with difficult terrain and limited employment avenues, MGNREGA has served as a critical lifeline during lean agricultural seasons, natural disasters, and economic distress.
“Instead of renaming the Act, the BJP government must answer why wages are delayed for months, funds are arbitrarily curtailed, job cards are deactivated, and the statutory guarantee of 100 days of work is routinely violated,” he said.
The APCC demanded that the central governmentwithdraw any proposal to rename, restructure, or dilute the MGNREGA; restore and enhance budgetary allocations to ensure full implementation;guarantee timely payment of wages without technological or bureaucratic hurdles; and strengthen MGNREGA implementation in tribal, remote, hilly and border areas, including Arunachal.
“History cannot be erased by changing names, and rights cannot be weakened through rebranding. MGNREGA is not just a law – it is a promise to the poor. It will remain MGNREGA in law, in spirit, and in the collective conscience of the people of India,”said Siram.
