As part of the All India Protest Day on December 22, CPI(ML) Liberation, AIARLA, MNREGA Mazdoor Sabha, AICCTU and other Left organisations led militant protests across Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and other states against the Modi-led BJP government’s assault on MNREGA and the right to guaranteed rural employment.
The protests condemned the BJP regime for destroying MNREGA, advancing corporate-driven policies, and reducing workers to modern-day slaves of corporates. Protesters strongly opposed the stealthy introduction of the VB GRAM G Act and demanded its immediate withdrawal, expansion of MNREGA to 200 days of work, a minimum wage of Rs. 600 per day, and increased budgetary allocations.
On December 23, NREGA unions, along with farm labourers’ organisations and working-class unions, held protests in Kolkata and several other districts across West Bengal, raising similar demands and condemning the central government’s continued attacks on rural employment and workers’ rights.
