Chandigarh:
The General Secretary of All India Congress Committee, former Union Minister, and Sirsa MP Kumari Selja said that changing the name of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) has deeply hurt its original character and constitutional spirit. However, Congress will not allow this government to take away the rights of millions of poor people, labourers, and workers.
In a statement released to the media, MP Kumari Selja said the MNREGA is not an ordinary welfare scheme, but a statutory right passed by Parliament in 2005, aimed at providing livelihood security to rural households through guaranteed employment. However, due to recent administrative changes, there is chaos in the allocation of work, delays in payments, and thousands of rural workers are being deprived of their legitimate employment rights. This situation is not only against the core spirit of the MNREGA Act, but is also a clear violation of Articles 14, 21, and 41 of the Constitution, which guarantee equality, the right to live with dignity, and the right to work.
Selja demanded that MNREGA be immediately implemented in its original form, as it existed before 2024, so that rural workers are ensured timely, fair, and dignified employment. Kumari Selja said this is not merely a matter of changing the name of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), but that only a government hostile to the rights of the poor would attack MNREGA. The Congress Party will strongly oppose on the streets any anti-poor and anti-worker decision of this arrogant government by taking the issue directly to the people. Congress will not allow this government to snatch away the rights of millions of poor people, labourers, and workers.
MP Selja questioned the government’s intention behind removing Mahatma Gandhi’s name, a leader regarded as one of the greatest not only in India but across the world. Selja said whenever the name of a scheme is changed, extensive changes are required in offices and stationery, which involves additional expenditure so what is the benefit of this exercise?
:-Who will guarantee the safety of the common citizen?:-Kumari Selja
The daylight abduction and brutal murder of a four-year-old innocent girl from Rampura Bishnoiyan village in Sirsa district is a heart-wrenching proof that law and order have completely collapsed under the BJP government’s rule. This raises a very serious question: when even such a young child is not safe, who will guarantee the safety of the common citizen? The kidnapping of a child in broad daylight shows that the police administration and the government have utterly failed. How have criminals become so emboldened that they have no fear of the law at all? This is not just the pain of one family, but of the entire society. The BJP government must answer why its claims regarding women’s and children’s safety are proving hollow on the ground. The culprits of this heinous crime must be arrested without any delay and the strictest possible action must be ensured against them. Any delay in justice is an injustice to the victim’s family and cannot be accepted under any circumstances.
