New Delhi, Dec. 17 -- A row erupted in the Parliament on Tuesday as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government sought to introduce a bill to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), drawing objections from the opposition parties over the removal of Mahatma Gandhi's name and the intent behind the proposed changes. The controversy in the Lok Sabha began when Union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan sought the House's permission to introduce the Viksit Bharat Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB G-RAM-G) Bill, 2025, which aims to replace MGNREGA. Leading the Opposition's attack, Congress leader and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi said the bill reflected "personal ambition, obsession and prejudice" rather than public interest. "Mahatma Gandhi is not from my family, but he is like a member of it, and the entire country feels the same way. Such bills which are inspired by someone's personal ambition, obsession and prejudice should neither be presented nor be passed," she said. The bill proposes a guarantee of employment for 125 days in a financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer for unskilled manual work. This is higher than the existing MGNREGA, which guarantees 100 days of wage employment in a financial year. Responding to the Opposition's protests, several MPs gathered in the well of the House holding placards, while Chouhan defended the bill invoking Mahatma Gandhi and the idea of Ram Rajya. "This bill is according to Mahatma Gandhi, and it is for the establishment of Ram Rajya," he said, adding that Gandhi spoke of Ram Rajya and that his last words were "Hey Ram." "Mahatma Gandhi is in our every breath. don't know why Opposition is miffed with G-RAM-G," he said. Chouhan also accused the Opposition of double standards, pointing to past renaming of schemes. "Previously there was a scheme named Jawahar Rozgar Yojana, the UPA government changed the name of this scheme. Does that mean we take it as an insult to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru?" he asked. He added that while the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government spent Rs.2,13,220 crore on MGNREGA, the current government has spent over Rs.8,53,210 crore "to uplift the poor and tried to strengthen this scheme." Opposition leaders, however, argued that the bill weakens both the spirit and structure of the programme. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor called it a "deeply regrettable and retrograde step for our nation and our nation's commitment to the welfare of its most vulnerable citizens." He said removing Mahatma Gandhi's name amounted to an attack on the programme's philosophical foundations. "Mahatma Gandhi's vision of Ram Rajya was never a purely political programme. It was a socio-economic blueprint rooted in the empowerment of villagers and his unwavering faith in gram swaraj was part of his vision of Ram Rajya," said Tharoor. He further questioned the bill's financial structure, arguing that shifting 40% of the funding burden to states would hurt poorer states. The bill proposes a higher financial responsibility for states. While it will remain a centrally sponsored scheme, the Centre will share costs in a 90:10 ratio with northeastern states, Himalayan states and Union territories such as Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, and 60:40 with other states and Union territories with legislatures. Echoing similar sentiments, Nationalist Congress Party's (NCP) Supriya Sule demanded that the proposed changes be sent to a parliamentary standing committee before being implemented. Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's (DMK) T R Baalu said the "father of the nation is being ridiculed by the BJP government," triggering slogans of "shame" in the House....