Lucknow’s streets buzzed with tension on Thursday as Uttar Pradesh Congress in-charge Avinash Pandey defiantly addressed the media amid heavy police deployment. Despite stringent administrative measures, Pandey asserted that party workers would not back down from their battle to restore laborers’ rights under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
For the past 40 days, Congress activists have been holding village chaupals and protests across the state to draw the government’s attention to what they call a systematic erosion of workers’ entitlements. Pandey charged that recent amendments to MGNREGA have stripped laborers of their guaranteed 100 days of wage employment, leaving rural poor vulnerable to exploitation.
“This movement will persist until justice is served,” Pandey declared, highlighting the vocal opposition already voiced by Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on the issue. He accused the ruling dispensation of conspiring to dismantle a landmark law designed to empower the marginalized, vowing that Congress would thwart such efforts at any cost.
Police barricades prevented Congress workers from marching to the state assembly, with forces stationed at key points and heightened security around leaders’ residences. Pandey likened the scene to colonial-era repression, condemning the transformation of homes into virtual fortresses.
In a stark warning, he emphasized that a healthy democracy demands the government heed the opposition’s voice. Ignoring public grievances, he cautioned, would invite electoral retribution from an awakened populace demanding accountability.