Heavy security cordons failed to silence UP Congress in-charge Avinash Pandey’s call to arms for MGNREGA laborers in Lucknow today. Pandey, speaking to reporters, pledged an unyielding campaign to reclaim workers’ lost entitlements, undeterred by administrative roadblocks.
Over 40 days of sustained protests and community meetings have put the BJP government on notice. Pandey detailed how MGNREGA reforms have gutted essential protections, depriving rural workers of their statutory right to employment and timely payments.
Backed by top leadership including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, the Congress narrative frames this as a calculated sabotage of a poverty-alleviating scheme. “We won’t let this law be twisted into oblivion,” Pandey affirmed.
Visuals of police deployments at strategic locations and residences underscored the standoff, with activists barred from the legislative complex. Pandey decried this as reminiscent of draconian colonial practices, a sign of the regime’s intolerance for critique.
To fortify democracy, he implored, the powers-that-be must amplify rather than muzzle opposition. Failure to address laborers’ plight, he cautioned, spells doom for any administration out of touch with ground realities.