Congress Launches Nationwide Campaign to Save MNREGA, Mobilises Over 2.5 Lakh Gram Sabhas

New Delhi, Jan 2026 : The Congress has initiated a coordinated nationwide campaign against what it calls the dilution of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), planning large-scale mobilisations across states and seeking resolutions from over 2.5 lakh gram sabhas demanding the restoration of the law’s original provisions. The campaign includes statewide protests starting Saturday in several states, including Uttarakhand and Bihar.

The party has described this effort as one of its largest grassroots mobilisations in recent years, aiming to intensify its agitation against changes to the MGNREGA framework. Congress leaders allege that the Centre has weakened rural employment guarantees by curtailing the powers of gram panchayats, particularly their authority to decide the type of work and allocate employment. The party says this undermines the law’s core promise of providing rural households a legal right to demand work when needed.

In Uttarakhand, the Congress has announced a statewide agitation against what it calls the replacement of MNREGA with the Viksit Bharat G Ram G Rural Act. This decision was taken during a meeting of the Political Affairs Committee, chaired by Uttarakhand Congress in-charge Kumari Selja, held at a hotel on Rajpur Road in Dehradun. On January 10, the party plans district-level press conferences across the state to highlight the potential consequences of the new framework and contrast them with the guarantees under MNREGA. Congress leaders warn that these changes will adversely affect rural livelihoods and weaken decentralised governance.

In Bihar, the Congress is launching a ‘Save MNREGA’ campaign, targeting what it calls the Modi government’s anti-MNREGA policies. Party workers will conduct village-to-village outreach, educating rural communities about the law and its benefits. Leaders emphasised that the campaign will combine grassroots mobilisation with legislative action, indicating that the party is prepared to take the issue from local protests to the state Assembly.

According to party insiders, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) has instructed all state units to take the agitation deep into rural areas. A major component of the campaign is to ensure that over 2.5 lakh gram sabhas across the country pass resolutions demanding the reinstatement of MNREGA’s original provisions.

The campaign began on Friday with the launch of the ‘MNREGA Bachao Sangram’ in Jammu. The programme was led by AICC General Secretary and Jammu & Kashmir in-charge MP Dr Syed Naseer Hussain, along with Jammu & Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee President Tariq Hameed Karra. Held at the Kashmir Hills Resort in Jammu, the event saw participation from senior party leaders, sitting and former legislators, ex-ministers, district presidents, frontal organisation office-bearers, block presidents, and party workers.

The turnout and enthusiasm at Jammu signalled the Congress’s intent to mount a sustained nationwide protest to safeguard MNREGA and assert the party’s commitment to rural employment, local governance, and the welfare of millions of rural households dependent on the scheme.