Tripura Congress Steps Up Political Offensive Against BJP, Demands Rollback of VB Gram G Act

BY TC News Desk

Agartala, 11^th January 2026:  Escalating its political attack on the BJP-led state government, the Tripura Pradesh Congress on Sunday accused the ruling dispensation of dismantling people-centric welfare measures by replacing MNREGA with the VB Gram G Act. The Congress claimed the move was part of a larger ideological agenda to weaken guaranteed employment rights and erase the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi.

The party held silent protests across all nine organisational districts, with a key demonstration under the statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the Circuit House in Agartala. Tripura Congress Committee president Asish Kumar Saha said the agitation was aimed at exposing what he described as the BJP-RSS’s “anti-people” and “anti-Gandhi” policies.

“MNREGA was a landmark Congress initiative that guaranteed 100 days of work and dignity to rural households. By scrapping it and introducing the VB Gram G Act, the BJP government has struck at the very foundation of social justice,” Saha alleged, adding that the move reflects the ruling party’s ideological hostility towards Mahatma Gandhi.

Former minister and Congress MLA Sudip Roy Barman said the protests in Tripura were part of a nationwide Congress campaign to defend MNREGA. He accused the BJP of attempting to centralise control over employment schemes and dilute the constitutional right to work.

“The VB Gram G Act allows the government to selectively decide where work will be provided, instead of guaranteeing employment to all. This not only snatches wages from the poor but also shifts the financial burden onto the state,” Roy Barman said, calling the act a “political tool to weaken rural livelihoods.”

Congress leaders asserted that the replacement of MNREGA is a calculated political decision aimed at dismantling Congress-era welfare architecture. They warned that the issue would be taken to the people as a symbol of the BJP’s alleged disregard for grassroots rights and Gandhian values, while reiterating their demand for the immediate repeal of the VB Gram G Act and restoration of MNREGA.