The North News
Chandigarh, December 30
Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema has launched a sharp attack on the BJP-led Union government, accusing it of weakening the rural jobs scheme MGNREGA and threatening the livelihood security of millions of poor households. Speaking in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha during a debate on a resolution opposing recent changes to the scheme, including its proposed renaming as Viksit Bharat- G RAM G Act, Cheema said the move amounted to “an assault on the stomachs of the marginalised”.
To underline his argument, the minister read out a letter from a woman worker, Charanjit Kaur, who described the fears of rural labourers that new rules and centralised village lists could deprive children of education and elderly family members of access to medicines. Cheema said the shift towards centralisation and mobile-based attendance systems was eroding the “guarantee” of work that had long supported rural survival.
He accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of acting against the spirit of the Constitution drafted by B. R. Ambedkar, arguing that the Centre’s policies undermined the principles enshrined in the Preamble. He cited Supreme Court rulings that have held the Preamble to be inviolable. In a strongly worded speech, Cheema warned that excessive centralisation risked turning labourers into “bonded workers” within a rigid system, weakening cooperative federalism and local economies. He described this, he said, as a direct challenge to democratic values.
The Finance Minister also objected to naming welfare schemes after religious icons, saying such moves could be used to shield governments from criticism and stigmatise protest by linking it to religious sentiment.
Contrasting the Centre’s approach with that of the Punjab government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Cheema highlighted what he described as unprecedented representation and welfare measures for Dalits under the Aam Aadmi Party administration. He said six of the 15 ministers in the current cabinet were from the Dalit community and pointed to his own appointment as the state’s first Dalit finance minister.
He said the state had provided government jobs to more than 15,000 Dalit youth, waived loans for nearly 5,000 underprivileged Dalit families and earmarked around ₹14,000 crore under the SC/ST Sub-Plan in the 2025–26 budget — the highest allocation in Punjab’s history. Cheema also cited education outcomes, saying hundreds of students from government schools, many from labourer families, had cleared competitive examinations such as JEE and NEET, and highlighted the introduction of reservations for Dalit lawyers in the Advocate General’s office.
Concluding his address, Cheema warned of a nationwide movement if changes to MGNREGA were not reversed. He urged the Speaker to forward letters from workers — many bearing thumb impressions — to the Prime Minister’s Office, saying they reflected the human cost of policy decisions. “We will not allow the bread to be taken from the mouths of workers,” he said.
