BJP hits out at Congress over VB-G RAM G Act claims

The BJP on Saturday dismissed as “baseless” the Congress's claims on the VB-G RAM G Act and accused the opposition party of running a “sponsored propaganda” to mislead people on the Centre's rural job guarantee scheme.

BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said the implementation of Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Act will bring transparency and create an honest system.

He said the scheme will render more benefits to the labourers as compared to the now-repealed Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.

“It has become routine for Rahul Gandhi to skip discussions during Parliament Session for his monthly foreign visits and attack the (government) policy after returning to the country,” the BJP Rajya Sabha MP said.

“I want to tell very clearly that the sponsored and misleading campaign which is being run by the Congress is baseless,” he added.

Trivedi said under the VB-G RAM G Act, the number of workdays has been enhanced from 100 to 125, and the scheme has been linked with other schemes on water conservation, infrastructure, climate change, and livelihood. “Gram panchayats will take decisions. It has been linked to big programmes like PM Gati Shakti so that people in villages know about the development activities happening around their village,” he said. Trivedi said that under the Act, there will be weekly monitoring of the activities to ensure that payment is made for the work executed.

During the implementation of MGNREGA, instances came to the notice of the government from 19 districts that payment was “collected” for the work which was never done, he said. The VB-G RAM G Act will be “much more beneficial” to labourers as it will bring “transparency” and “honesty” in implementation, he said.

The BJP leader alleged that the Congress had turned MGNREGA into a “system for corruption.”

He also alleged that Congress and other parties were against it because they are “rattled” by RAM in the law's acronym.

“This shows that if even an indirect reference to any symbol associated with Indian culture and Hinduism is seen, the Congress cannot accept it,” the BJP leader charged.

“Police personnel, along with reinforcements, reached Shyamatganj Bridge, where around 200-250 people, including the named accused, allegedly attacked the police team again,” Pareek added.

The crime branch, led by Inspector Sanjay Dheer, conducted the investigation that led to the latest chargesheet. “During the probe, nine additional names were identified and included in the chargesheet,” officials said.

Bareilly turned tense on September 26 after protesters, opposing FIRs over “I Love Muhammad” posters, clashed with police following the Friday prayer, as they were not permitted to hold a demonstration.

Several people, including police personnel, were injured in the clashes. The police lodged 10 FIRs, booking hundreds of people, mostly unidentified, in connection with the violence.