WHEN in Punjab AAP government was bringing a resolution against the VB-G RAM G Act in the Assembly and accusing the BJP-led Centre of trying to finish the MGNREGA on Tuesday (December 30), Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in State capital Bhopal launched a scathing attack on the Punjab Assembly for holding a one-day special session and oppose the act. He termed their actions ‘undemocratic, irresponsible, and against the spirit of the Constitution’.

 

He was interacting with media on Tuesday at his residence in Bhopal. Amid sharp political controversy in Punjab over rural employment laws and alleged corruption in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), Union Rural Development Minister Chouhan’s remark has raised political temperature saying “It is against the federal spirit of our Constitution for a state legislature to reject or move against a law passed by Parliament.

 

Despite having lengthy discussion in the Lok Sabha and that the sufficient time for debate was given to the opposition before the Bill was passed, such action has surprised and disappointed to many. “The Viksit BharatGuarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025, commonly known as the VB-G RAM G Act. Drawling parallels with Gram Panchayat and state government he said, “can a gram panchayat have the right to pass resolutions against the act framed by state? This is shallow politics by opposition.”

 

Turning guns on Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, the Union Minister alleged “he lives in a world of fantasy” and is disconnected from the country’s realities. Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that claims suggesting governance could function without a Cabinet and Council of Ministers amounted to misinformation and irresponsible politics. Chouhan also raised serious allegations of corruption in Punjab, particularly in the implementation of the MNREGA Scheme. 

 

He said that thousands of corruption cases had come to the fore there, but neither had the culprits been punished nor the money recovered. Only 5,915 gram panchayats had social audits out of 13,304 in Punjab. These audits reportedly revealed around 10,653 cases of financial irregularities, what action has been taken ? He alleged that money was siphoned off by creating inflated estimates in the name of cleaning roads and canals and that even after investigations by central teams, recommendations for recovery were not implemented.

 

In the name of MNREGA, several irregular expenditures were made in the state for instance bush clearing, soil filling, and embankment construction, while labourers were complaining of not receiving their wages. On Mamata Banerjee’s announcement to build a Mahakal temple in North Bengal, he said that some leaders inclined towards temples and Dharm only at the time of election. Taking on Congress party, Union Minister Chouhan stated absence of Opposition leaders from the Lok Sabha during the discussion on such an important bill was extremely irresponsible.

 

He said that the opposition was unwilling to listen to the answers during the discussion and was undermining the dignity of Parliament. they only resort to bullying tactics. Then they go outside and create an atmosphere as if a 20- year plan has been destroyed in a single year, in a single night. Hurling question on opposition, he said “Didn’t the Congress replace the Jawahar Rozgar Yojana with another scheme? Employment-related schemes have been changed not once, but many times. This is nothing new.” The Union Minister said that trying to mislead the country by running away from parliamentary debate and creating a false narrative outside is against democratic values.