Modi govt wants poor to die hungry: Rahul Gandhi

 The MGNREGA has been replaced by the Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin), or VB-GRAMG Act, 2025, which seeks to align rural employment with the government’s 'Viksit Bharat 2047' vision. While the new law increases the guaranteed number of workdays to 125, it also shifts funding responsibilities to states and links employment to the creation of durable infrastructure.

 Gandhi was addressing a chaupal under MGNREGA in his parliamentary constituency of Raebareli as part of the Congress’s nationwide ‘Save MGNREGA’ campaign in opposition to the VB-GRAMG Act.

 Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gandhi said the government had struck at the very foundation of the employment guarantee programme.

“MGNREGA is not just a scheme; it is the pride of poor labourers and their legal right to work. We will not allow it to be destroyed at any cost,” he said.

 Gandhi alleged that the prime minister wanted the country's wealth to be concentrated in the hands of industrialists Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani. "On one side, we are protecting the people, while on the other, Narendra Modi is diverting the country's entire wealth to a select few," he claimed.

 He stressed that MGNREGA was conceived to empower panchayats and provide employment as a legal guarantee, but alleged that the Modi government was “hell-bent on dismantling” the programme and weakening grassroots institutions.