Press : BJP National General Secretary, Shri P. Muralidhar Rao

Press Statement issued by BJP National General Secretary,
Shri P. Muralidhar Rao

MGNREGA ads misleading

The ministry of Information and Broadcasting under the all subject expert minister, Manish Tewari has published front page advertisement in all national dailies lauding itself for nine years of MGNREGA. The UPA government has made an absurd claim in the advertisement. The caption of the advertisement says ‘Thanks to MGNREGA No bonded Labour anymore’.

I am not able to comprehend how an eminent lawyer like Manish Tewari would forget that the bonded labour has been abolished in 1976 by the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976. As such I am at loss to understand where did this bonded labour come from, which UPA government supposedly freed through MGNERGA. If the claim made in the advertisement is true then the government must furnish the numbers, which form the basis of the claim.

The advertisement further claims that ‘The landless SC, ST and BPL population which earlier worked as bonded labour on farms of rich land lords has become free from their clutches owing to MGNERGA projects’.

It is clear that the advertisement has been released without any homework. The MGNREGA act 2005 was brought with the stated objective of providing minimum 100 days of employment to the rural labour. Nowhere does the act claims that abolition of bonded labour is one of its objectives, or the prime objective, as the advertisement indicates. If the claims made in the advertisement are true, then the MGNERGA is the most unique program in the world which has achieved something, which it had not aimed for. It is akin to taking polio vaccine and eradicating malaria. I must congratulate UPA government for this unique achievement.

The advertisement is also a direct affront to the farming community as it claims that it has freed labours from the clutches of the farmers. It is an attempt to create a new divide in the rural areas for political gains.

While the government has every right to tom-tom its achievement, it has no right to waste taxpayer’s money for making such false and misleading claims. The ad campaign will not wash away the sins of the UPA government.

(O.P. KOHLI)
Headquarter Incharge