The Congress on Saturday unveiled plans for a nationwide agitation against the G-RAMG Act, accusing the Centre of weakening and effectively dismantling the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), a scheme the party says safeguards the livelihood rights of rural India.

Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Congress general secretary K C Venugopal said the party will launch a countrywide campaign titled ‘MNREGA Bachao Abhiyan’ starting January 8. The agitation will run for 45 days and extend from state capitals to districts, blocks and panchayats.

Venugopal alleged that the new law fundamentally alters the spirit of MNREGA by removing the guarantee of employment. “This law silently kills MNREGA. It takes away the legal right to work and replaces it with a restricted, budget-controlled system,” he said, adding that MNREGA had played a critical role in reducing hunger, limiting migration and creating rural infrastructure over the years.

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh echoed these concerns, warning that decision-making is being centralised, leaving villages at the mercy of allocations decided in Delhi. He claimed many panchayats could end up receiving no funds at all, undermining rural self-governance.

Ramesh further alleged that the G-RAMG framework violates constitutional norms by bypassing mandatory consultations between the Centre and states. “This is not decentralisation, this is dismantling rural rights,” he said, drawing parallels with the farmers’ protests that forced the repeal of controversial farm laws.

The Congress asserted that MNREGA, enacted in 2005 after extensive parliamentary scrutiny and political consensus, became a lifeline during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The party warned that replacing it would severely impact rural employment security.