Tharoor’s remarks followed some initial confusion over whether he was describing the renaming itself or the political controversy around it as “unfortunate”. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Monday criticised the Centre’s proposal to rename and replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), calling the move “unfortunate” and unnecessary, and arguing that Mahatma Gandhi’s name was integral to both the scheme’s identity and its underlying philosophy.
Responding to the Narendra Modi-led government’s plan to introduce the Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin), or VB – G RAM G Bill, 2025, Tharoor said the decision to drop Gandhi’s name ignored the historical and moral foundations of the programme. “It’s unfortunate because Mahatma Gandhi had a very, very clear vision of both the rural poor, whom he cared for. He talked about wiping the tear from the poorest person’s eye,” Tharoor said.
In a post on X, he described the controversy as “unfortunate” and argued that the concepts being invoked were never in conflict with Mahatma Gandhi’s thought. “The concept of Gram Swaraj and the ideal of Ram Rajya were never competing forces; they were the twin pillars of Gandhiji’s consciousness,” Tharoor wrote, adding that projecting the change as a rejection of Gandhi’s legacy ignored this “profound symbiosis”.
He warned against creating “a division where none existed”, noting that Gandhi’s life – and even his final breath invoking “Ram” – symbolised this harmony. Tharoor’s remarks followed some initial confusion over whether he was describing the renaming itself or the political controversy around it as “unfortunate”. The ambiguity arose from his earlier post on X, but the Congress leader later clarified his position in response to a user on the platform, making it clear that his criticism was directed at the decision to change the name of the scheme.
Tharoor’s comments come at a time when the Congress and other Opposition parties have mounted a sharp attack on the Narendra Modi-led government over the proposed Bill, which seeks to repeal MGNREGA and replace it with a new rural employment framework aligned with the government’s Viksit Bharat @2047 vision.
The new scheme promises a statutory guarantee of 125 days of unskilled manual work per rural household each year, but also introduces significant changes to funding and administration, including higher cost-sharing by states and new central and state councils to oversee implementation.
The Kerala MP’s intervention also comes against the backdrop of questions over his equations with the Congress leadership. Last Thursday, Tharoor skipped a meeting of Congress Lok Sabha MPs chaired by Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi.
Photographs and social media posts showed Tharoor in Kolkata the same day, attending an event organised by the Prabha Khaitan Foundation, where he spoke on women’s rights and even sang on stage alongside family members.
The absence was the latest in a series of missed party meetings in recent weeks. Tharoor was also absent from a Congress Working Committee-related meeting on November 30, on the eve of the winter session of Parliament, citing travel from Kerala, and from an earlier meeting focused on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls, for which he had cited health reasons.
These absences have drawn attention as Shashi Tharoor has, in the same period, attended high-profile events where senior Opposition leaders were not invited, including a lecture by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a state banquet hosted by President Droupadi Murmu for visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin.
