Congress stages mass sit-in demanding restoration of MGNREGA.

Friday marked the death anniversary of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi. On this occasion, as part of a nationwide programme, the Pradesh Congress organized a mass sit-in demonstration demanding the restoration of MGNREGA in the state.

The programme was held in front of the Congress Bhavan from 11 a.m. on Friday. The sit-in was attended by Pradesh Congress President Ashish Kumar Saha, along with senior Congress leaders and office-bearers of various frontal organizations of the party.

Speaking on the occasion, PCC President Ashish Kumar Saha said that the name of Mahatma Gandhi has been removed from the MGNREGA scheme and that the government is moving towards scrapping the existing law and introducing a new one. He alleged that the proposed law would not only curtail people’s rights but would also severely damage the rural economy. Therefore, he said, the Congress is conducting nationwide protest programmes, and as part of that movement, the mass sit-in was organized in the state to demand the withdrawal of the new law and restoration of the MGNREGA Act.

Earlier in the day, before the sit-in programme, senior Congress leaders paid floral tributes to the portrait of Mahatma Gandhi at the Congress Bhavan. Following this, party workers and supporters took out a silent procession from the Congress Bhavan to Gandhi Ghat, where they offered floral tributes at the martyr’s altar of Mahatma Gandhi and at the memorials of other national leaders.