MGNREGA rename row: Tharoor calls controversy unfortunate
Even as the Congress sharpened its attack on the Centre over the proposed repeal and renaming of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), senior party leader Shashi Tharoor on Monday described the controversy surrounding the move as unfortunate, triggering unease within his own party. In a post on X, the Thiruvananthapuram MP said the debate had been framed in a misleading manner, arguing that the ideas being invoked by the government were not antithetical to Mahatma Gandhis philosophy. Tharoor was responding to the Centres plan to repeal MGNREGA and replace it with a new law titled the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VBG RAM G) Bill, 2025. The controversy over renaming MGNREGA in the Govts proposed new G-RAM-G Bill is unfortunate, Tharoor wrote. The concept of Gram Swaraj and the ideal of Ram Rajya were never competing forces; they were the twin pillars of Gandhijis consciousness. He added that projecting the change as a rejection of Gandhis legacy ignored this profound symbiosis and cautioned against creating a division where none existed. Tharoor noted that the Mahatmas final breath invoking Ram symbolised this harmony. However, as criticism mounted online, a user sought clarity from Tharoor on whether his objection was to the renaming itself or to the controversy it had sparked. In response, the Congress MP clarified that he was opposed to removing Mahatma Gandhis name from the flagship rural employment scheme. Its pretty clear that I am objecting to replacing the Mahatmas name. Read my tweet, Tharoor replied, underlining that the third sentence of his post explicitly made that point. Reports say that within the Congress Tharoors remarks drew a sharp reaction from party sources, who said he should make his position clearer at a time when the Opposition was united in criticising the governments move. The party has accused the Centre of undermining a landmark welfare programme and erasing the legacy of a law closely associated with the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). The controversy over renaming MGNREGA in the Govt's proposed new G-RAM-G Bill is unfortunate. The concept of Gram Swaraj and the ideal of Ram Rajya were never competing forces; they were the twin pillars of Gandhijis consciousness. Replacing the Mahatmas name in a scheme for Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) December 15, 2025 MGNREGA, enacted in 2005, was one of the UPAs flagship initiatives. Sonia Gandhi, then UPA chairperson, had made an employment guarantee a core promise of the alliances 2004 election manifesto and played a key role in pushing the legislation through as chair of the National Advisory Council, despite resistance at various stages. The VBG RAM G Bill, 2025, which is expected to be introduced in the Lok Sabha, seeks to repeal the MGNREGA Act and establish a new statutory framework for rural employment aligned with the governments Viksit Bharat @2047 vision. According to the draft bill, the proposed scheme promises 125 days of unskilled manual work per rural household annually, but also envisages changes in funding patterns, including a higher cost-sharing burden on states, and the creation of new central and state-level councils to oversee implementation. Tharoors intervention has also come amid renewed scrutiny of his relationship with the Congress leadership. Last week, he skipped a meeting of Congress Lok Sabha MPs chaired by Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, citing prior commitments, according to party sources quoted by ANI . His absence followed a series of missed party meetings in recent weeks, including a Congress Working Committee-related meeting on November 30 ahead of the winter session of Parliament, which he attributed to travel from Kerala, and another meeting on the Special Intensive Revision of voter rolls, for which he cited health reasons. These absences have drawn attention as Tharoor has, during the same period, attended several high-profile events where senior Opposition leaders were not present, including a lecture by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a state banquet hosted by President Droupadi Murmu for visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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