Speaking in the Vidhan Sabha in support of a resolution against the recent changes and the renaming of the MGNREGA scheme to ‘Viksit Bharat – GRAM G’, Cheema described the move as an “assault on the stomachs of the marginalised.”
Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema (IANS file photo)
Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the BJP-led Union government, accusing it of systematically dismantling the MGNREGA scheme and stripping the poor of their right to a livelihood.
Speaking in the Vidhan Sabha in support of a resolution against the recent changes and the renaming of the MGNREGA scheme to ‘Viksit Bharat – GRAM G’, Cheema described the move as an “assault on the stomachs of the marginalised.”
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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, he said, reflects the anxiety that changing rules and centralised village lists would deprive children of education and the elderly of medicine.
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He 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.
The finance minister slammed the BJP-led Union government for working against the spirit of the Constitution, authored by Baba Saheb Dr Ambedkar.
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, Democratic Republic.”
He said the Supreme Court of India has repeatedly pronounced in its judgments that the Preamble of the Constitution cannot be changed, 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.
Strongly objecting to the renaming of the scheme after religious icons, he 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 Center’s policies with the Punjab government’s initiatives, Cheema highlighted that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) 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.
The minister detailed the tangible benefits delivered to the community, noting that the AAP government has provided government jobs to over 15,000 Dalit youth. Financial empowerment has been a cornerstone of this agenda, as the state has successfully waived the loans of almost 5000 underprivileged Dalit families, a move never seen under prior administrations.
Cheema also celebrated the success of the AAP’s Education Revolution, where over 267 students from government schools, many of the children of labourers, have cleared JEE and 235 got admission, 847 cleared NEET and 560 got admissions, many more students from state government schools cleared such competition examinations for the first time in such a big number.
He challenged the Opposition to quote such examples from their regimes.
He further added that the Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann-led Punjab government has also extended this empowerment for the first time to the legal field as well, where the implementation of 25 per cent reservation for Dalit lawyers in the Advocate General’s office has led to the appointment of 58 children of poor people, sanitation workers to high-ranking legal positions.
He claimed that Punjab is the only state in India which provided such a reservation to Dalit lawyers.
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