Congress launches 45-day ‘MGNREGA Bachao Sangram’ against new rural jobs legislation

The Congress on Saturday (January 10, 2026) launched a 45-day nationwide agitation, the ‘MGNREGA Bachao Sangram’, opposing the replacement of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) with the newly enacted Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (VB-G RAM G) law.

The campaign, which will continue till February 25, seeks to press for the complete withdrawal of the VB-G RAM G Act, and the restoration of the MGNREGA in its original form as a rights-based legislation guaranteeing employment, strengthening the role of panchayats, and ensuring accountability in implementation.

As part of the launch, the party organised press conferences at district headquarters across the country on Saturday, highlighting what it described as the manner in which MGNREGA was repealed and replaced during the Winter Session of Parliament. District-level protests and a day-long fast are scheduled for January 11.

The party would continue the agitation until the “right to work, livelihood and accountability” was restored, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, announcing the campaign.

“The Congress is committed to seeing this struggle through until we secure the restoration of the right to work, livelihood, and accountability that the Modi government has snatched with its bulldozer demolition of the MGNREGA,” Mr. Ramesh said in a post on social media platform X.

The programme outlines phased mobilisation across rural and urban areas. From January 12 to 29, the party will organise chaupals (village gatherings) and mass contact programmes at the gram panchayat level.

This will be followed by ward-level peaceful sit-ins on January 30 to press for the right to work.

Between February 7 and 15, the Congress plans State-level gheraos (encircling) of Vidhan Sabhas, before concluding the campaign with four major rallies between February 16 and 25.

The party said that unlike the agitation against the now-repealed farm laws, which it described as Delhi-centric, the MGNREGA Bachao Sangram would be rooted at the panchayat, block, district, and State levels.

The VB-G RAM G Act was passed in Parliament amid protests in December 2025, with the Rajya Sabha clearing the Bill by a voice vote on December 18, hours after its passage in the Lok Sabha. President Droupadi Murmu gave her assent on December 21, turning it into law. The Act guarantees 125 days of wage employment per rural household each financial year.