Bhatti questions removal of Gandhi’s name from MGNREGS

Hyderabad/Chennai|: Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka questioned what sin Mahatma Gandhi had committed that the BJP government at the Centre removed his name from the Employment Guarantee Scheme.

He was speaking as the chief guest at a massive public meeting held in Chennai on Thursday evening, following a padayatra organised under the leadership of the Tamil Nadu Pradesh Congress Committee, protesting the changes to the Employment Guarantee Scheme and the removal of Mahatma Gandhi’s name from it.

The Deputy Chief Minister expressed anguish that the BJP government at the Centre had brought in a new law with the intention of making the Employment Guarantee Scheme disappear by altering its provisions.

He said that under the new law, not only was Mahatma Gandhi’s name removed, but even the very spirit of guaranteeing employment to agricultural labourers was diluted. He questioned what sin crores of agricultural labourers across the country had committed for the BJP government to introduce such changes to the Employment Guarantee Scheme.

Recalling the past, he said that across the country there were numerous agitations, police lathi-charges and bloodshed every agricultural season for wage increases of even 50 paise. With a humane perspective to eliminate such brutal conditions, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh introduced the Mahatma Gandhi Employment Guarantee Scheme for crores of agricultural labourers in the country, he said.