IMPHAL, Dec 22: Manipur congress legisalture party leader O Ibobi Singh on Monday strongly criticised the BJP led NDA government for changing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and asserted dropping the name of Mahatma Gandhi was an insult to the father of the nation.
Speaking to reporters, Singh said “dropping Mahatma Gandhi’s name from the flagship rural employment programme amounts to an insult to the father of the nation, whose philosophy of Sarvodaya and social justice inspired the law.”
Singh questioned the rationale behind replacing Mahatma Gandhi with a different nomenclature and stated the congress larty strongly condemns the move in the strongest terms.
The former three times chief minister said “why was the name of Mahatma Gandhi removed in the recent amendment of Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill.”
Congress president Keisham Meghachandra also said “the Congress Party is deeply unhappy and strongly opposed to this move, which strikes at the very foundation of a landmark rights-based legislation.”
Keisham further asserted that “the new Act weakens the rights-based, demand-driven guarantee of employment, thereby depriving rural workers of their legally enforceable right to work.”
Expressing serious concern over the changed funding pattern, the Wangkhem MLA said that “shifting a greater financial burden onto states will severely weaken poorer and resource-constrained states, including Manipur” and warned that the new framework undermines the spirit of federalism by centralising control and reducing the autonomy of states and local bodies.
“The Congress Party will continue to stand with rural workers, farmers and the poor, and will oppose any attempt to dilute their hard-won rights,” Keisham added.
(By Our Correspondent)
