Congress steps up MGNREGA Bachao protests; alleges lathi-charge on NSUI march in Varanasi

The Congress on Sunday intensified its nationwide MGNREGA Bachao Sangram, alleging that police in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi resorted to a lathi-charge on National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) activists during a peaceful march.

The incident occurred in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s parliamentary constituency, where students led by NSUI national president Varun Chaudhary were protesting against the replacement of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act with the Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act.

Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh shared a video on X purportedly showing police using force against the protesters and accused the “Yogi–Modi trouble-engineered” government of suppressing democratic dissent. He claimed the demonstration was peaceful and conducted within constitutional limits.

The Congress has launched a 45-day agitation across the country demanding the withdrawal of the VB-G RAM G Act and restoration of MGNREGA as a rights-based law, including the right to work and greater authority for panchayats.

As part of the campaign, the party has held district-level press conferences, symbolic protests and fasts, and plans gram panchayat outreach programmes, state-level gheraos of Vidhan Sabhas, and major rallies through February.