Chief minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday appeared to mock the label VB-G RAM G, the government-specified acronym for the new rural employment law, saying it sounded like the title of an “old Bollywood film, Ji Mummy Ji”.

It’s unclear whether any Bollywood film titled “Ji Mummy Ji” was ever made although Jai Mummy Di, a romantic comedy with a similar-sounding title and starring Sunny Singh and Sonnalli Seygal, was made in 2020. Another film, Mummyji, featuring Kirron Kher, was released in 2007.

Omar was replying to a question from reporters on the renaming of the rural employment law from the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act to the Viksit Bharat—Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajiveeka Mission (Gramin): VB-G RAM G Bill.

By appending the acronym to the bill’s name — word spaces in place — the government had itself indicated how it wanted the bill spelt and referred to.

“Where did this name come from? Pardon me, but you should think properly before naming a bill. It reminds me of an old Bollywood picture, ‘Ji Mummy Ji’,” Omar said, almost on the verge of laughter.

“Perhaps nobody has seen that picture but my nephew has seen it. Now (you have) ‘G RAM G’. Should it be the name of a bill?”

Omar said it was wrong to remove the Mahatma’s name from the scheme. He argued that the new law was bad for the states economically since it put a larger burden on them.

“A lot of changes have been made (to) it, which will hurt us and not benefit us,” he said.

Many activists and Opposition politicians too have criticised the government’s move, from the dropping of the Mahatma’s name to the provisions of the new law, saying it would reduce work under the programme, hitting the rural poor’s right to employment.

BJP leader Ashok Koul opposed Omar’s criticism of the bill but made no reference to his taunt.

“I do not know how he saw the bill. When Mahatma Gandhi was dying, he took the name of Ram. His last words were ‘Hey Ram’,” Koul told reporters.

“It’s not that Mahatma Gandhi’s name has been removed. Changes are introduced from time to time…. Naturally, when there are changes, the bill’s name has been changed. It has been named after Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘Hey Ram’; there should be no objections to it.”

While Omar mocked the bill’s acronym, his father Farooq Abdullah had ruffled feathers in Kashmir in the past by singing Ram Bhajans.