Congress Leaders Press Briefing From Vijay Chowk: Modi Government "Fascist", "Enslaving" Poor

by GoNews Desk Dec 02, 2021 • 06:26 PM Views 810

Randeep Surjewala termed the Modi government “fascist” and supported te protest by journalists who are being debared from covering the Parliament, before handing over the Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge. Surjewala said that the voices of farmers, youth, parliament and its members, and now journalists, is not being heard in the country.

“This is the first time In 75 years that our journalists had to protest, which is a shameful thing… we condemn this act by the government in the strongest terms. The government should wake up”, he said.

Mallikarjun Kharge spoke to the press about MNREGA, the rural employment scheme started by the Congress-led UPA government. He said that a lot of developmental work and employment had been achieved though this act.

“But the Modi government has been cutting the NREGA budget day by day, with the intention that the poor should not stand on their feet, and is unable to live with dignity. The budget which they had set in 2020-21 amounting to ₹1.10 Lakh crore, and now it is ₹83,000 crore.”

“During the pandemic, when people were returning from all over the country back to their homes and villages, they needed work, which was not available while the money under NREGA also reduced. When I raised the issues of NREGA as a Leader of Opposition in the Lower House, the same Modi mocked the opposition benches and said that NREGA will not be stopped because it is a living example of their failures. Yet, this same scheme was useful to so many people but today they are bent on eliminating it”.

Kharge termed the move to allegedly do away with the NREGA as ana ttempt to “enslave” the poor and take away their self-respect and dignity. He said that those who work under this scheme are mainly “Sc-ST”, i.e., Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.