New Delhi, Dec 16 (PTI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday termed the bill on rural employment an insult to the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi, as he accused the Narendra Modi government of seeking to eliminate the secure livelihood of the rural poor after destroying the future of India's youth through severe unemployment.

Several opposition MPs protested in the Parliament House complex on Tuesday over the VB-G RAM G Bill that seeks to replace MGNREGA and has become a new flashpoint with the government, as they accused the BJP-led NDA dispensation of "insulting" Mahatma Gandhi.

In a post on X, the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always been opposed to the ideas of Mahatma Gandhi and has been trying to weaken the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act ever since he came to power. The Congress will oppose any such move, he asserted.

"Modi ji has a deep hatred for two things -- the ideas of Mahatma Gandhi and the rights of the poor. MGNREGA is a living embodiment of Mahatma Gandhi's dream of village self-rule. It is a lifeline for millions of rural lives, which also proved to be their economic safety shield during the COVID era.

"But Prime Minister Modi has always been irritated by this scheme, and for the past 10 years, he has been trying to weaken it. Today, he is determined to wipe out MGNREGA completely," he alleged in his post in Hindi.

The Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill, 2025, was introduced in the Lok Sabha by Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan amid strong objections by the opposition to the "removal" of Mahatma Gandhi's name. Gandhi said the foundation of MGNREGA was based on three core ideas: Right to employment, which means whoever demands work will get it, freedom for villages to decide their own development works, and the central government will bear the full cost of wages and 75 per cent of the material costs.

"Now, Prime Minister Modi wants to change this very MGNREGA to concentrate all power solely in his own hands. The centre will decide the budget, schemes, and rules; states will be forced to bear 40 per cent of the expenses, and as soon as the budget is exhausted or during the crop harvest season, no one will get work for two months.

"This new bill is an insult to the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi. The Modi government has already destroyed the future of India's youth through severe unemployment, and now this bill is a means to eliminate the secure livelihood of rural poor as well," he said.

Gandhi said the Congress party will oppose this "anti-people" bill from the village lanes all the way to Parliament.

According to a copy of the Bill, it will provide a statutory guarantee of 125 days of wage employment in a financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to undertake unskilled manual work.

Within six months from the date of commencement of the VB-G RAM G Act, states will have to make a scheme consistent with the provisions of the new law.

In a statement, the Rural Development Ministry said the proposed legislation will establish a modern statutory framework aligned with the goal of 'Viksit Bharat 2047'.

It said the Bill aims to create both employment and durable rural infrastructure through four priority verticals -- water security through water-related works, core rural infrastructure, livelihood-related infrastructure, and special works to mitigate extreme weather events. PTI SKC SKC NSD NSD