Party president Mallikarjun Kharge disclosed the timeline after the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting held in New Delhi, directing state units and workers to mobilise across the country in the coming weeks. The campaign follows deliberations at the apex party body on how to oppose what the party calls the “scrapping” of MGNREGA and the perceived erosion of rural employment rights.
Also read: G-RAM G: Your two-minute guide to the bill that will replace MGNREGA
Kharge, said the nationwide drive will involve public outreach, rallies, and other forms of protest aimed at highlighting the impact of repealing the longstanding rural job guarantee law. He stressed the need for concrete planning and broad participation from party units to build momentum ahead of the January 5 launch.
He said the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) was a visionary legislation of the UPA government, which was appreciated across the world. The scheme was named after Mahatma Gandhi due to the impact it had, Kharge said.
The move comes after Parliament passed the Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025 (VB–G RAM G Act), which repealed the MGNREGA and introduced a new statutory framework for rural employment and livelihood security.
While the government asserts the new law aims to guarantee 125 days of wage employment to rural households under revised modalities, the Congress contends this represents a dilution of the demand-driven, legally enforceable provisions previously available under MGNREGA. MGNREGA, first enacted in 2005, was widely regarded as the world’s largest employment guarantee programme, legally entitling rural households to at least 100 days of unskilled work annually and designed to provide livelihood security in rural India.
Also read: Lok Sabha passes G RAM G Bill to replace MGNREGA, proposes 125 days of rural wage employment, amid opposition uproar
Ahead of the formal launch of the ‘MGNREGA Bachao Abhiyan’, Congress leaders have already issued instructions to state units to mobilise workers, elected representatives and affiliated organisations to participate in gram sabha meetings convened under government schedules to explain their opposition to the new law.
The Congress president said a nationwide movement is required against the repeal. The government’s move should be protested against across the country, he said, citing the example of the 2015 amendments to India’s land acquisition law that were effectively rolled back.
The party has described the VB–G RAM G Act as weakening provisions that previously ensured job guarantees and rights-based entitlements for millions of rural households.
With inputs from PTI