MGNREGA played saviour for millions during COVID, but Modi did not acknowledge it: Rahul Gandhi

"I was watching during COVID when thousands and thousands of people were left without jobs and MNREGA saved them. Of course, the PM did not comment about MNREGA then."

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act played a saviour for millions of Indians during the time of the COVID-19 but Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not ready to acknowledge the relief and security provided by the UPA government-implemented scheme to the hapless people of the country.

Criticising Mr. Modi for describing the MGNREGA as one of the "living monuments of the failures" of the Congress-led UPA, he said the PM had not understood the depth of the mass employment scheme and he did know how it has transformed the labour market of the country and how it became the last resort and huge protection for lakhs of people.

As the economy of the country was crippled due to demonetisation and "faulty" implementation of the GST, the scheme has become even more important now to protect the livelihood of the common people, the Wayanad MP said.

He was addressing a gathering of MGNREGA volunteers at Nenmeni, a tribal dominated village panchayat, in his Parliamentary constituency Wayanad.

"I was watching during COVID when thousands and thousands of people were left without jobs and MNREGA saved them. Of course, the PM did not comment about MNREGA then. And he does not comment about MGNREGA anymore," Mr. Gandhi said.

Because, it became obvious that what he had called as the monument of the failure of the UPA was actually protecting India during the pandemic period, he added.

He recalled the huge resistance put up by bureaucrats and others against the MGNREGA when the UPA government brought the scheme claiming that it was going to be a huge loss of money.