There is a line from Shakespeare’s famous play Romeo and Juliet – What’s in a Name! That is, what is there in the name? If Shakespeare were alive today, the Parliament of India would have told him that Mr. Shakespeare, there is a lot in the name. Parliament will now debate only on the name because the current Narendra Modi government has proposed to change the name of the scheme brought by the Manmohan Singh government to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA). Agriculture Minister Shivraj Chauhan presented its new draft and naming bill in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. There is a lot of uproar regarding this. Congress says that the Modi government is rejecting every scheme related to the name of Mahatma Gandhi. Priyanka Gandhi is quite vocal about this. But the Agriculture Minister says that the new scheme has been completely changed, hence this is a new scheme.
VB-G RAM G
The Central Government has decided that Vikas Bharat – Guarantee for Employment and Livelihood Mission Rural (VB-G RAM G) will now be the new name of MNREGA. There is a guarantee of 125 days of work in this whereas in MNREGA there were 100 days. Apart from this, the amount payable by the states has been increased to 40%. Earlier it was 25 or less. Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Scheme was passed by Manmohan Singh government in 2005. Now, to change its name, first the Central Government thought of keeping Pujya Bapu Rural Employment Scheme, but even before the notification was issued, this new name got leaked and Priyanka Gandhi created a ruckus by linking it to the identity of Mahatma Gandhi. Immediately the Central Government gave this name and put Ram ji in front of Mahatma Gandhi. Now opposing this plan means insulting Ram ji. Therefore, now the government is organizing a front regarding this.
Do not defame Ram’s name
The uproar started as soon as the Agriculture Minister presented it in the Lok Sabha. Opposition parties including Congress started protesting against the removal of Mahatma Gandhi’s name from the name of MNREGA but the same happened as BJP had planned. He immediately attacked that Congress is irritated by the name of Ram and hence its MPs have got enraged by the name of Ram. Priyanka Gandhi also strongly protested against the fact that now the states will have to spend more in the rural employment scheme. He requested to withdraw this bill and said a very touching thing that Mahatma Gandhi was not from my family but Mahatma Gandhi belongs to the entire country, hence his name should not be removed from the MNREGA program. Congress Lok Sabha member Shashi Tharoor laughingly said, do not defame Ram’s name. Nowadays Shashi Tharoor is again moving towards Congress. Moving away from the government.
Name of Mahatma Gandhi and Ram!
Dharmendra Yadav of Samajwadi Party said that do not call Ram as Hey Ram. Almost the entire opposition opposed the removal of Mahatma Gandhi’s name from MNREGA. Agriculture Minister Shivraj Chauhan kept giving the same clarification that we have increased its budget and also increased the number of employment days. But the real fight started over Mahatma Gandhi’s idea of Ram Rajya and BJP’s Ram. However, this was the first time in Parliament that no one could protest in the name of Ram or in the name of Mahatma Gandhi. Today both these names have become the weakness of the ruling party and the opposition. Both these names are used to attack each other. There is the same magic in the name of Mahatma Gandhi as in the name of Ram. If Mahatma Gandhi was opposed then a big vote bank was lost and thus Ram’s name became famous.
Gandhi vs Ram
It is also interesting that Mahatma Gandhi had also taken the help of Ram’s name and had also imagined Ram Rajya for the establishment of a healthy democracy and just rule. For the sake of equality of all religions, he said ‘Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram, Patita Pavan Sita Ram!’ Always prayed for the same. After these lines, this was also added – ‘God, Allah is your name, God give peace to everyone!’ In these lines, the spirit of Hindu-Muslim unity has been invoked. That means Ishwar and Allah are synonyms of each other. Attacks are being made in the Parliament regarding such Ram and such Mahatma Gandhi. Everyone knows that neither Gandhi can be attacked nor Ram can be ignored. But over changing the name of MNREGA, BJP and Congress are fighting with the help of these names.
The budget also increased
It is true that the name of this scheme has also been changed and the budget has also been increased. Its budget has now been increased to Rs 151282 crore. The scheme will now ensure 125 days of employment but the burden of this expense will fall on the states. The central government will give Rs 95692 crore and the remaining Rs 55590 crore will be borne by the state governments. This expenditure will have the biggest impact on Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. On one hand, Congress is united in not changing the name of MNREGA. It has decided to issue a whip to its MPs for voting against this bill. Congress also demonstrated outside the MP in protest against the bill. On the other hand, the ruling BJP is also using its full strength to get it passed. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has said, there will be a complete debate in the Lok Sabha.
Government also in breath
The question is not about whether this bill is passed or not. The government is in a strong position so the chances of passing the bill are high. However, the government is also hesitant about putting more burden on Andhra because the current Modi government has the support of Andhra’s Telugu Desam Party and this bill may anger Andhra Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu. But it is also believed that BJP must have guessed this and only after this, Agriculture Minister Shivraj Chauhan would have brought the bill in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. In the absence of Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi has taken charge of the Congress. What he says in Hindi attracts the public more. Therefore, now it remains to be seen what will be the effect of removing the name of Mahatma Gandhi from the name of MNREGA and adding the name of ‘Ji Ram Ji’.
But where is ‘Ji Ram Ji’?
It is also interesting that the weavers have a lot of yarn and not cotton! The truth is that Ram ji’s name has not been directly added anywhere in this Developed India-Guarantee for Employment and Livelihood Mission Rural Bill. This entire name has been written in short in such a way that it becomes ‘Ji Ram Ji’. These are the implications of adding the word rural before the Livelihood Mission. Now even the common man is troubled by this lip service of BJP and Congress. His wish is that there should be meaningful debate in the Parliament. What will happen if there is a meaningless debate? There was no debate on Indigo nor on Goa Club arson. Moreover, there was no debate in the Parliament on the pollution of Delhi-NCR. It is a different matter that Rahul Gandhi had raised the issue of pollution. But there was no debate on this topic. Then why so much ruckus about this bill?
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