CHENNAI: The Communist Party of India (CPI) state secretary M Veerapandian on Sunday criticised the AIADMK for what he described as a protest that betrays agricultural labourers and rural workers, accusing the party of aligning with the Union government's move to dilute the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
The CPI said the AIADMK's proposed February 13 protest against what it alleges as the TN ruling DMK government's attempt to disrupt the 125-day employment scheme of the BJP-led Centre's rechristened G Ram G was aimed at lending support to measures that would weaken rural workers' right to employment. CPI expressed confidence that the people would see through the move and reflect their verdict in the Assembly elections.
Veerapandian recalled that the rights-based rural employment law was enacted in 2004 under the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) with the support of Left parties, guaranteeing 100 days of work annually to rural manual labour households. He pointed out that the AIADMK had no representation in the Lok Sabha when the landmark legislation was passed.
He alleged that between 2014 and 2020, when the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was in power at the Centre and the AIADMK ruled Tamil Nadu, the State government remained silent even as the Union government weakened the rural job scheme and diverted funds from project works. The people of Tamil Nadu had not forgotten this silence, he said.
Veerapandian claimed that in December 2025, the Union government announced the replacement of the legally guaranteed rural employment scheme with a programme that lacked statutory backing. This, he said, amounted to depriving more than one crore agricultural labourers and small and marginal farmers in Tamil Nadu of their right to assured employment.
Terming the AIADMK's criticism of the State government's implementation of the scheme as baseless, he said the party was effectively abetting what he called the Union government's "betrayal" of rural workers. He cited the example of the Opposition Leader's native Nedungulam panchayat, where an average of 68 days of work had been provided, and said the real constraint arose from the Centre's year-on-year cuts in budgetary allocations to the scheme, which had placed the State government under financial strain.