New Delhi, Dec 16: The Opposition on Tuesday staged a protest outside Parliament, holding placards and raising slogans against the Centre over its move to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

Raising slogans such as “Gandhiji ka ye apman, nahi sahega Hindustan” and “Mahatma Gandhi Amar Rahe”, Opposition parliamentarians accused the BJP-led Centre of removing the name of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, from the rural employment scheme.

Opposition MPs objected to the renaming of the flagship employment programme and marched within the Parliamentary premises to the statue of Mahatma Gandhi, where they continued their protest.

The demonstration followed the introduction of the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G), 2025, a Bill that seeks to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.

Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan introduced the Bill in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, triggering sharp reactions from Opposition members who questioned the rationale behind removing Mahatma Gandhi’s name from a landmark welfare scheme that has been in existence for nearly two decades.

“The truth is that under the pretext of changing the scheme’s name, they want to scrap it. Why do they want to change the name of this scheme? Mahatma Gandhi is the Father of the Nation,” Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra told reporters during the protest.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, speaking to Media, questioned the logic behind the “renaming” exercise. “How will the change in the name benefit the farmers of the country? This politics of changing the name first started in Uttar Pradesh, and now it has arrived in Delhi also,” he said.

Congress General Secretary K.C. Venugopal also strongly criticised the Centre for replacing the scheme.

Speaking to Media, Venugopal said, “This is an insult to the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi. We are protesting because this is basically the anti-national attitude of the BJP to insult Mahatma Gandhi and kill the MGNREGA scheme.”

Samajwadi Party MP Awadhesh Prasad told Media, “This is an insult to Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation. Lord Ram is respected in the entire country and the world. The one who is insulting Lord Ram is these people (ruling party).”

The Opposition maintained that the proposed replacement of MGNREGA and the removal of Mahatma Gandhi’s name reflected a deeper attempt to dilute a crucial employment guarantee programme.

Mumbai: The Samajwadi Party state president, Abu Azmi, on Tuesday, December 16, hit out at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar after a video from a government event in Patna went viral on social media. The clip triggered outrage as it showed the Bihar CM pulling down a woman doctor’s hijab while presenting her appointment letter.

While speaking to media, Abu Azmi said that he is deeply saddened as a person of the Chief Minister’s calibre, served as CM multiple times and is a senior leader, behaved so disrespectfully towards a woman.

Calling it unacceptable, he added that “If a woman wears a burqa, it is her personal choice, and forcibly pulling it off with one’s hand sends a message that the lives of Muslims have no value and anyone can remove their burqa.”

The Samajwadi Party state president said that the Bihar CM should apologise to the woman for his disrespectful behaviour. “I appeal to the people to protest against him, and until he apologises to the woman and she herself forgives him, he should not be spared…”

The incident reportedly took place on Monday during an official function where Kumar was distributing certificates to AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) doctors.

The woman seen in the video has been identified as Nusrat Parveen. In the footage, Nitish Kumar is seen asking her about her headscarf after handing over the appointment letter and is seen pulling down her hijab himself. The woman appeared visibly shocked by the Chief Minister’s action.

The Bihar CM distribution ceremony of appointment letters for 1283 AYUSH doctors (Ayurvedic, Homoeopathic, and Unani) was held at ‘Samvad’ in the Chief Minister’s Office.

Mumbai: In a bid to tackle severe congestion on the crucial Thane–Kalyan rail corridor, the Central Railway (CR) is actively exploring the possibility of laying underground rail lines as part of its proposed 7th and 8th lines project.

The 10.8-km Thane–Kalyan stretch, one of the busiest sections on Mumbai’s suburban network, handles nearly 1,000 train movements daily and serves as a vital interchange zone for lakhs of commuters. With land constraints posing a major challenge, railway authorities believe that going underground at select locations, especially near Dombivli, could be key to easing long-term pressure.

CR officials confirmed that a third-party agency has been appointed to conduct a Final Location Survey (FLS), which will determine the feasibility, alignment and engineering details of the new rail lines. The study, currently in its early stages, will assess whether underground corridors are required in densely built-up pockets where horizontal expansion is no longer possible. The FLS report is expected to be ready by mid-2026.

The Thane–Kalyan section is a critical rail artery where multiple routes intersect. Thane station links the main line with the trans-harbour corridor towards Panvel, Diva connects suburban services to Roha and Kalyan marks the bifurcation of routes towards Kasara and Karjat–Khopoli. With the rapid expansion of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, nearly 1.2 to 1.5 million commuters depend on this corridor every day, intensifying congestion during peak hours.

Central Railway had completed the long-delayed 5th and 6th lines between Thane and Diva in 2022, offering some relief. However, officials admit that this has only partly addressed the issue. While there is limited scope for surface-level expansion on certain stretches, areas before and after Dombivli are particularly constrained, leading a serious consideration of underground rail sections.

Currently, around 1,200 suburban local services operate daily between Thane and Kalyan on fast and slow corridors. Diva station remains one of the busiest points on the CR network, with nearly 70–75 per cent of the 894 daily local trains halting there. This has also led to frequent closures of the Diva level crossing, opened nearly 39 times a day, disrupting both train schedules and road traffic.

The proposed underground and elevated additions are part of a larger vision to segregate suburban and long-distance train operations. Central Railway plans to expand Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) with additional platforms and develop Parel as a new terminus, reducing pressure on CSMT and Dadar.

While underground lines could transform mobility on the Thane–Kalyan corridor, officials acknowledge that planning, approvals and execution will take several years before commuters see tangible benefits.