The Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led government in Kerala is denying jobs to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) labourers for not attending its party programmes, said former union minister Prakash Javadekar on Wednesday.
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The senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader lashed out at CPI(M), alleging that it was threatening the laborers that their jobs would be taken away if they did not attend the party’s rallies.
“The CPI(M) in Kerala is threatening MGNREGS workers that their jobs would go if they don’t attend the party’s rallies. Such tactics won’t work this time. Voters are awakened. They know what Modi is doing for them. The voter is king at the polling station,” he posted on ‘X’.
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Mr. Javadekar’s criticism came in the wake of reports that nearly 10 women, employed under the MGNREGS programme in Punnapra North grama panchayat in Alappuzha had been denied jobs.
One of the workers told a television channel that they were asked to attend a party meeting in their neighbourhood on Sunday. “We were told that it was a labour meeting. When we reached there, we understood that it was a party programme of the CPI(M). So, nearly 10 of us, including me, didn’t attend it,” a woman labourer told a TV channel on Wednesday.
She also alleged that she and others who did not attend the meeting were asked by authorities not to come for the daily job, despite being enrolled for it. The woman said they lodged a complaint with the panchayat secretary.
The link to the video of the news report was attached to by Javadekar on his post on X.
The CPI(M) has not reacted to the allegations.