NEW DELHI: The passage of the contentious ‘VB-G RAM G’ bill in Parliament has set the stage for protest politics. As Modi govt rebuffed pressure to refer the bill to the standing committee on rural development for vetting, Congress MP Saptagiri Ulaka told TOI that BJP was wary of the panel because it is headed by him, an opposition member.In what signals a Congress bid to turn the “dilution” of jobs guarantee into a nationwide rallying cry against BJP, Congress Working Committee will discuss MGNREGA at a special session on Dec 27. Sources said a plan for protest may also be discussed during the brainstorming. The joint opposition Thursday took out a march in the Parliament complex, with MPs walking behind a huge banner of “Mahatma Gandhi – NREGA”, raising slogans against the govt.Ulaka told TOI, “The only reason why govt was scared of the standing committee on RD is that a Congress MP is its chairman. They just wanted to avoid it. They were scared because of the reports we have been submitting. They were worried, though I don’t know why.”He said BJP’s partisan considerations are the reason why Modi govt prefers to send legislations to JPCs instead of standing committees, because the former are headed by “dummies” with whom “things get done”. Ulaka wrote to Speaker Om Birla that the bill be sent to his panel for scrutiny, while the opposition voiced demand during the debate on the legislation.There is a belief in Congress that it can use ‘disbanding’ of MGNREGA to reach out to the rural poor and create an agitation on the lines of the one in 2015 against Modi govt’s proposed amendments to Land Acquisition Amendment Act, that forced the governing party to roll back its plan. The CWC tone will decide if the party has the appetite for mass mobilisation, given that it has struggled to mount a serious resistance against BJP in the recent months. It will also discuss SIR in poll-bound states.Opposition did exhibit serious intent amid Parliament discussion on G Ram G Thursday, as a large contingent of MPs took out a march from Gandhi statue to main Parliament entrance. The march included INDIA bloc’s Mallikarjun Kharge, K C Venugopal, Kanimozhi, T R Baalu, N K Premachandran, Naseer Hussain, A Raja, John Brittas, E T Mohammed Basheer, Arvind Sawant, among others. Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also joined the protest.Kharge said, “Against this tyranny of the dictatorial govt, we will fight from Parliament to the streets.”
