Opposition leaders staged a protest in the Parliament premises on Thursday night in protest against the passing of the Village and Livelihood Mission (Rural) Bill in the Parliament. He said that they will take to the streets across the country. TMC’s Rajya Sabha deputy leader Sagarika Ghosh accused the central government of forcefully passing the VB-Ji-Ram-Ji Bill.
Amid opposition protests, the Rajya Sabha passed the Vikas Bharat Guaranteed Employment and Livelihood Mission (Rural) Bill in Parliament, approving it after midnight.
Sagarika Ghosh said that the way the Modi government has brought this completely anti-poor, anti-people, anti-farmer, anti-rural poor VBGRG Bill and abolished MGNREGA is extremely objectionable. Ghosh said that this is an insult to the poor of India, this is an insult to Mahatma Gandhi, this is an insult to Rabindranath Tagore. This bill was handed over to us by giving us just five hours notice. We were not given a chance to discuss it properly.
He said that our demand was that such an important bill should be sent to the select committee and the opposition parties should be given an opportunity to examine it, discuss it and all the stakeholders should deliberate on it, but no, it was passed killing democracy. He said that we are now going to sit on a 12-hour dharna, there will be a 12-hour dharna against the way the Modi government has brought this black law against the people of India, the poor of India, the rural poor of India.
Whereas Congress General Secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala described this day as a sad day for the labor force of the country. He accused the Modi government of being anti-farmer and anti-poor. He alleged that this is perhaps the saddest day for the workers of India. The BJP government has attacked the livelihood of 12 crore people by repealing MGNREGA. He has proved that Modi government is anti-farmer and anti-poor.
Congress leader Mukul Wasnik said that while drafting MGNREGA, discussions were held for 14 months. The Parliament passed it unanimously. This scheme will put excessive burden on the states. Because of which this plan will fail. DMK leader Tiruchi Siva said they have shifted the statues of Mahatma Gandhi and Ambedkar to the rear of Parliament, where people cannot see them.
He claimed that in the same way he had also erased the name of Mahatma Gandhi. There is no freedom without Gandhi, this is the universal belief of this country. There is a statue of Gandhi in the British Parliament too, but here in the Indian Parliament his statue is hidden somewhere, and now the name of the scheme which was named after him, has also been removed. He said that the entire opposition is angry.
Congress MP Dr. Syed Naseer Hussain said that this bill was introduced in haste. This was neither discussed in the cabinet, nor consulted upon, nor were the stakeholders invited. This all happened very suddenly. Just as those three black laws were brought against the farmers, similarly this law has been brought against the labourers.
Congress MP Mukul Wasnik said that the UPA government had started NREGA in 2005. The outline of this bill was discussed in the entire country for 14 months. Self-help groups were contacted, as well as experts and political leaders. After consensus was reached, MNREGA was approved by Parliament in 2005. There will be a huge financial burden on the state governments. This new scheme will not last long and crores of workers will have to suffer losses.
MP Ranjit Ranjan said that we participated in the entire discussion on MGNREGA and discussed it in detail. In both the Houses we repeatedly said that it should be sent to the Joint Parliamentary Committee because many amendments are necessary in it. Today, by again amending MGNREGA, you have made the poor even poorer. Why do you want to terminate their 60 days of employment? Whereas the laborers and the poor were getting good wages. Now you want to blackmail them again. You will have to withdraw this bill again.
DMK MP T. Shiva said that the MNREGA scheme, which was meant for rural people, especially women, was greatly benefiting them. Now the government is changing it completely and making something else, which will put more burden on the state government. This bill will be repealed just like agricultural laws.
CPI MP P. Santosh Kumar said that this bill is like dropping a bomb on the poor and laborers. This is the New Year gift given by BJP to the people. We boycotted the session and are continuously protesting. We will take to the streets in the coming days. Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that this bill is a symbol of his arrogance. Our only demand was that this bill should be sent to the selection committee. This is not a big demand. He has imposed many restrictions in this scheme.
AAP MP Sanjay Singh said that this bill is against laborers and farmers. This bill has been completely defeated today, but just as they withdrew the three agricultural laws, they will have to withdraw this law also. They want to hide all their failures behind the name of Lord Ram.
Congress MP Imran Pratapgarhi said that this government has taken away the rights of the poor and laborers by passing this bill. The way this bill was hastily introduced and passed is a stain on democracy. This is like crushing democracy. The entire opposition is opposing it. The entire opposition was demanding that this bill be sent to a selection committee, but the government was not ready to listen.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said that what happened is very unfortunate. We continued to demand discussion and to send this bill to a select committee, but our demand was ignored and rejected. The intention of the government is clearly visible from this. He is not only anti-farmer, but also anti-poor and anti-labor.
Leave a Reply