Says it will continue protests until the Centre restores the original employment scheme
Congress leaders and workers sit on a token hunger strike at Lohia Maidan, Margao, on Sunday to protest against the BJP government’s decision to rename the MGNREGA scheme.
MARGAO
Congress leaders and workers staged a day-long token hunger strike at the historic Lohia Maidan in Margao on Sunday to oppose the BJP government’s decision to change the name of the MGNREGA scheme.
The party said the protest was part of an all-India movement and would continue until the Central government restores the original scheme.
Congress Goa desk in-charge Manikrao Thakare, party secretary Anjali Nimbalkar, Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao, Quepem MLA Alton D’Costa, South Goa MP Viriato Fernandes, district Congress chief Savio D’Silva and several leaders from Margao and Salcete took part in the protest.
Addressing the gathering, Thakare said the move to rename the scheme was an attempt to weaken the job guarantee for the poor. He said the law was brought by the Congress government to give people in rural areas the right to work and to stop migration to cities. “Now the BJP government has removed the employment guarantee and also taken Mahatma Gandhi’s name out of the scheme,” he said.
Viriato Fernandes said the decision was an attack on the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi and on rural India. He said the BJP only pays lip service to the Father of the Nation.
Anjali Nimbalkar warned that the token hunger strike was only the beginning of a larger protest.
Yuri Alemao said the government had committed a serious mistake by removing Gandhi’s name and claimed that the new scheme had reduced the job guarantee from 120 days to 50 days.
