The Punjab Legislative Assembly session on Tuesday turned into a battleground over a resolution rejecting the Centre's new Viksit Bharat-Guarantee For Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, popularly called VB-G RAM G. The debate saw sharp exchanges, with the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) terming the legislation an "anti-Dalit conspiracy," the Congress supporting the rejection but pushing for stronger protests, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) defending it as a crucial anti-corruption reform.
A Clash of Narratives: Conspiracy vs. Transparency
Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema led the charge for the AAP government, accusing the BJP-led central government of "systematically dismantling" the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). He argued that the new Act, with its proposed 60:40 fund sharing between the Centre and states, would bankrupt state economies and usurp their rights. "It is an attack on cooperative federalism," Cheema stated.
He further criticized the renaming of schemes, noting, "Everyone respects Lord Ram, but it is the first time that a religious name is given to a central scheme. It shows the desperation of the BJP." Cheema read out a letter from MGNREGA worker Charanjit Kaur to the Prime Minister, expressing fear of job loss under the revised scheme, and warned that centralizing the scheme and introducing complex mobile-based attendance would snatch away the guarantee of work.
Punjab Minister Tarunpreet Singh Sond called it a "conspiracy" to "completely scrap" MGNREGA, framing it as part of anti-Dalit policies. "The attack on MGNREGA is an attack on the existence of the Dalits. With this, BJP has lost the moral right to seek Dalit votes," Sond asserted. The treasury benches claimed that over 10 lakh MGNREGA workers in Punjab had opposed the change and warned that Dalits and the rural poor would block BJP leaders from entering villages during elections.
Opposition's Stance: Support with Conditions
While the Congress party supported the resolution against the VB-G RAM G Act, its leaders criticized the AAP government's approach as insufficient. Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa suggested that instead of "futile" special sessions, the AAP government should stage a dharna outside the Prime Minister's office in Delhi. Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira was 'named' by the Speaker for repeatedly disrupting Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's address.
Congress MLAs, including Pargat Singh and Sukhwinder Kotli, argued that the new 60:40 funding model was a deliberate attempt by the Centre to "abolish" MGNREGA by placing an unbearable burden on states. They reminded the house that the scheme was originally launched by the Congress-led UPA government under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Congress MLA Aruna Choudhary clarified that MGNREGA was designed for the entire rural poor, not Dalits alone, and accused the BJP of renaming centrally sponsored schemes for political gain.
BJP's Defense and Counter-Accusations
Defending the Centre's move, BJP MLA Ashwani Sharma labeled the resolution an attempt to "spread misinformation." He countered the allegations by attacking the AAP government's implementation record, claiming that Punjab had provided only an average of 26 days of work per labourer this year against the guaranteed 100 days and had failed to disburse unemployment allowances.
Sharma defended VB-G RAM G as a necessary reform to ensure transparency and curb corruption in MGNREGA. "There were cases where a card was in one person's name, but someone else did the labour. Is it wrong if the Centre wants to bring transparency?" he asked. He highlighted that social audits were not carried out properly and questioned why no action-taken reports were issued for 3,986 corruption cases detected under MGNREGA in the state.
AAP MLA Aman Arora, in a detailed rebuttal, called G RAM G a "cruel hoax." He presented calculations showing that guaranteeing 125 days of work at Rs 346 per day to 15.5 crore national job card holders would cost a staggering Rs 6.7 lakh crore, a financially unfeasible promise. For Punjab's 30.20 lakh job card holders, the required budget would exceed Rs 13,062 crores.
Arora argued that the scheme was failing because the Centre withheld funds for 6-8 months, discouraging workers and paralyzing panchayats. He also turned the corruption debate against the opposition, urging the CM to probe MGNREGA scams in Muktsar, Gidderbaha, Abohar, and Fazilka—areas linked to Congress and BJP state presidents. He claimed the AAP government had recovered Rs 2 crore of looted money and acted against 42 individuals from previous regimes.
The session underscored the deep political divisions over a welfare scheme critical to rural India, setting the stage for a prolonged confrontation between the Punjab government and the Centre.
