The Supreme Court of India on Monday dismissed the Central government's challenge to a Calcutta High Court directive, paving the way for the immediate revival of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme in West Bengal. The ruling ends a protracted standoff that had left millions of rural workers without wages for over three years, a move widely decried by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) as a deliberate act of political retaliation by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union regime.
TMC leaders, led by party general secretary and Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee, hailed it as a monumental triumph for Bengal's underprivileged and a stinging rebuke to what they termed an "economic stranglehold" imposed post the 2021 assembly polls. Banerjee, who spearheaded protests and legal battles on the issue, took to social media to declare it "another crushing defeat for the outsider, Bengal-hostile zamindars," invoking the BJP's alleged bias against the state.
“This is a HISTORIC VICTORY for the people of Bengal, who refused to bow down before Delhi’s ARROGANCE and INJUSTICE. When they failed to defeat us politically, BJP weaponised deprivation. They imposed an ECONOMIC BLOCKADE on Bengal, snatching away the wages of the poor and punishing the people for standing by Maa, Mati, Manush. But Bengal does not yield. We promised to fight for every rightful rupee, every honest worker, every silenced voice”, Banerjee posted on ‘X’. The TMC national General secretary had taken the protest to the corridors of Central government, sat on dharna outside the office of Minister of State for Rural Development, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti at Krishna Bhavan on October 3, 2023. He along with others part of the delegation wanting to meet the junior minister were later detained briefly and forcibly removed from the government office premises by Delhi police.
“Today’s verdict is a democratic slap on the face of those who believed Bengal could be bullied, coerced, or silenced. BJP’s arrogance has met its reckoning. They seek power without accountability. They take from Bengal, yet refuse to return her dues. But now, they've been defeated in PEOPLE'S VOTE, and in the SUPREME COURT”, he added on his social media post.
The TMC's official handle echoed this sentiment, hailing the outcome as "a historic validation for Bengal" and the restoration of equity after years of "Delhi's hubris and the BJP's retributive tactics." The party narrative painted a picture of resilience, noting how the Centre's "arrogant blockade" sought to break the spirit of a populace that dared to exercise its electoral will, only to falter against unified resistance under Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's stewardship.
MP Mahua Moitra, a vocal TMC firebrand, credited Abhishek Banerjee's grassroots mobilisation- from street demonstrations in the capital to sit-ins at the Raj Bhavan, for turning the tide. "It was his relentless push that secured payments for lakhs of workers from the state exchequer when the Centre defaulted," she wrote, celebrating the win as a boon for MGNREGA beneficiaries.
The dispute traces back to 2022, when the Union Rural Development Ministry suspended MGNREGA disbursements to West Bengal citing alleged irregularities, a claim the state contested as pretextual. Despite complying with audits and deleting a negligible number of fraudulent job cards-far fewer than in BJP-governed states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar - the funds remained frozen, accruing to over ₹3,000 crore in pending wages by mid-2025. The Calcutta High Court, in a June 2025 order, mandated resumption from August 1, a call the apex court has now emphatically endorsed, directing swift compliance.
The MNREGA non payment issue became an emotive political flashpoint before 2024 Lok Sabha polls, helping TMC edge far ahead of BJP in the state. BJP came down from 18 seats they won in 2019, to 12 in 2024. Bengal will undergo state elections in 2026 and the ruling TMC vows to take the fight to get central funds released for the poor, to the corridors of New Delhi, yet again.
