Opposition leaders on Thursday night staged a 12-hour sit-in protest inside the Parliament complex, protesting the passage of the VB-G RAM G Bill, which seeks to replace the MGNREGA rural employment programme.

The opposition leaders said they would take to the streets across the country, while TMC MPs continued their 12-hour sit-in protest against the VB G RAM G Bill 2025.

The protest was held after the Vikas Bharat Guaranteed Employment and Ajivika Mission (Gramin) ( VB-G RAM G) Bill was passed by Parliament. The opposition staged a walkout from the Rajya Sabha when the bill was cleared.

The Bill was assed in the Lok Sabha in the afternoon and in the Rajya Sabha after midnight.

Speaking about the protest, TMC MP Sagarika Ghosh said, "We are staging a 12-hour sit-in because the anti-people Narendra Modi government has abolished the NREGA, insulted Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore, and insulted the people of the country. NREGA was a support system for the poor people of the country, and now it has been abolished... We are staging this 12-hour sit-in protest."

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Congress general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala termed the day as "a sad day for the country's labour force" and accused the Modi government of being anti-farmer and anti-poor.

"Today is the saddest day for labourers in the history of our independent nation. The BJP government has inflicted a great wound on the livelihood of 12 crore people by abolishing the MNREGA," he said.

Echoing similar concerns, Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi said the Bill "symbolises the government's arrogance," adding that the opposition's only demand was for it to be sent to a Select Committee. He alleged that multiple limitations had been added to the scheme without proper scrutiny or debate.

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Speaking with the media, he said, "This bill symbolises their arrogance. Our demand was minimal that this bill be sent to the Select Committee. This is not a huge demand... They have added a lot of limitations to this scheme..."

(With ANI Inputs)