Chandigarh, Dec 30 (IANS) Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Cheema on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the BJP-led Union government, accusing it of systematically dismantling the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme and stripping the poor of their right to a livelihood.

Speaking in the Vidhan Sabha in support of a resolution against the changes and the renaming of the MGNREGA scheme to ‘Viksit Bharat — G GRAM G’, Cheema labelled the step as an “assault on stomachs of the marginalised”.

During his address, the Finance Minister read a poignant letter from a woman worker, Charanjit Kaur, which highlighted the fears of thousands of rural labourers. Kaur’s letter expressed the anxiety that changing rules and centralised village lists would deprive children of education and the elderly of medicine.

Cheema emphasised that by centralising the scheme and moving to complex mobile-based attendance, the Union government is snatching away the “guarantee” of work that was once the backbone of rural survival.

Accusing the BJP of working against the spirit of the Constitution authored by Dr B.R. Ambedkar, the Finance Minister slammed the BJP-led Union government for working against the spirit of the Constitution.

He emphasised that the Preamble to the Constitution, which embodies the fundamental principles and values of the nation, is being undermined by the Centre’s policies. The Preamble reads, “We, the People of India, solemnly resolve to constitute India into a sovereign, socialist, secular and democratic republic.”

The Finance Minister said the Supreme Court has repeatedly pronounced in its judgments that the Preamble to the Constitution cannot be changed or disturbed, affirming its sacrosanct nature.

In a strongly worded critique, Cheema further added that the Union government is attempting to turn the country’s labourers into “bonded labourers” and “slaves” of a centralised system by centralising every scheme.

This approach, he argued, is destroying cooperative federalism, stripping states of their rights, and weakening local economies, which he described as a direct attack on the soul of democracy.

Raising objections to the renaming of the scheme after religious icons, Cheema said, while the world respects Lord Rama, using a religious name for a government scheme is a political tactic to shield the government from criticism.

He warned that this creates a dangerous precedent where protesters seeking wages or rights can be labelled as being disrespectful to religious sentiments. Contrasting the Centre’s policies with the Punjab government’s initiatives, Cheema highlighted that the Aam Aadmi Party is working day and night for the elevation of the Dalit community through concrete actions.

He pointed out that for the first time in Punjab’s history, the Dalit community has received unprecedented representation with six out of 15 ministers in the Mann cabinet.

In another historic first, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann appointed the state’s first Dalit Finance Minister, a position that previous Congress and Akali regimes never entrusted to a Dalit leader.

Finance Minister Cheema concluded by warning the Union government of a massive nationwide movement, announcing that the Punjab government and the Aam Aadmi Party would stand firmly in support of the labourers.

He urged the Speaker to forward the hundreds of letters received from MGNREGA workers, many bearing thumb impressions, to the Prime Minister’s Office to demonstrate the human cost of these policy changes.

“We will not allow the BJP to snatch the bread from the mouths of our workers to serve corporate interests,” Cheema added.

–IANS

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