Opposition MPs staged a 12-hour dharna from Thursday (18 December 2025) night to Friday morning in the Parliament complex against passing of ‘Developed India – Ji Ram Ji Bill’ in place of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA). The MPs of the opposition parties also announced that after strongly opposing this move of the government in the Parliament, they will now take to the streets. Parliament on Thursday (18 December 2025) approved the ‘Developed India – Ji Ram Ji Bill, 2025’. This bill was passed in the Lok Sabha in the first day and in the Rajya Sabha late in the night.
Trinamool Congress MP Sagarika Ghosh alleged that the way the Modi government has brought this completely ‘anti-poor, anti-people, anti-farmer and anti-rural poor’ bill and scrapped MNREGA is condemnable. He said, ‘This is an insult to the poor of India, this is an insult to Mahatma Gandhi, this is an insult to Rabindranath Tagore. We were informed about this bill by giving only five hours’ notice. We were not allowed to have proper discussion on this.
Opposition’s 12-hour dharna after Ji Ram Ji is passed by Parliament
Sagarika Ghosh said, ‘Our demand was that such an important bill should be sent to the Select Committee, so that the opposition parties can scrutinize it, discuss it and consult with all the stakeholders, but this was not done and democracy was murdered in a display of dictatorship.’ Ghosh said, ‘Now we are staging a 12-hour strike. This protest is in protest against the way the Narendra Modi led government has brought this black law against the people, against the poor of India, against the rural poor.
‘The saddest day for workers’
Congress General Secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala described the passing of the bill as a ‘sad day’ for the working class of the country and accused the Modi government of being anti-farmer and anti-poor. He said, ‘This is perhaps the saddest day for workers in India’s democracy. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led government has attacked the livelihood of 12 crore people by canceling MNREGA. He has proved that Modi government is anti-farmer and anti-poor.
‘The new scheme will put excessive burden on the states’
Congress leader Mukul Wasnik said, ‘When the draft of MNREGA was prepared, consultations were held for 14 months. It was passed unanimously by the Parliament. This new scheme will put a huge burden on the states. The result will be that this plan will fail. Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader Tiruchi Siva said that the statues of Mahatma Gandhi and Babasaheb Ambedkar have been shifted to the rear of Parliament, where people cannot see them. He said that now the name of the Father of the Nation has been removed from the scheme, due to which the entire opposition and the people of the country are angry.
