KOLKATA, Aug 25: The Congress on Sunday took a jibe at the Centre over its announcement of the Unified Pension Scheme, saying the ‘U’ in UPS stands for the Modi government’s “U-turns”.
The opposition party also alleged that the UPS appears to be an attack on Dalits, tribals and backward classes.
Taking a dig at the government, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, “The ‘U’ in UPS stands for Modi Govt’s U turns! Post June 4, the power of the people has prevailed over the arrogance of power of the Prime Minister.” “Rollback in the budget regarding Long Term Capital Gain/Indexation. Sending Waqf Bill to JPC. Rollback of Broadcast Bill. Rollback of Lateral Entry,” he said in a post on X.
“We will keep ensuring accountability and protect 140 crore Indians from this despotic government,” the Congress chief said.
The Congress’ media and publicity department head Pawan Khera alleged that the UPS appears to be an attack on Dalits, tribals and backward classes.
“In many states, the upper age limit for government jobs for reserved category is 40 years. In UPSC, this limit is 37 years. Under the unified pension scheme, it is mandatory to render 25 years of service to get a full pension,” Khera said.
In such a situation, how will Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Classes employees avail this facility, he asked.
“Now the government should tell whether it wants to end the upper age limit facility available to the underprivileged or wants to deprive them of full pension?” Khera said on X.
However, Professionals’ Congress chairman Praveen Chakravarty appeared to strike a divergent note from his party and said the introduction of the scheme was “welcome and prudent”.
The Union Cabinet on Saturday approved an assured pension of 50 per cent of salary for those who joined the service after January 1, 2004, under the National Pension System (NPS), fulfilling a long-pending demand of government employees ahead of assembly elections in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir.
Employees opting for the UPS would be eligible for an assured pension of 50 per cent of the average basic pay drawn over the last 12 months before superannuation for a minimum qualifying service of 25 years.
BJP hits back
The BJP on Sunday hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the decision to bring a unified pension scheme for central government employees and hit out at the Congress, asking why it has not implemented its promise of bringing back the old pension scheme in Himachal Pradesh and other states where it is in power.
Addressing a press conference at BJP headquarters here, senior party leader Ravi Shankar Prasad slammed Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge for his U-turn jibe at the Centre and said Prime Minister Modi is “sensitive” to public issues and takes decisions in public interest after careful consideration.
The Modi government does not take “ad-hoc decisions”, the former Union minister said and asked Kharge to tell the nation why his party has taken a “U-turn” on its poll promise of implementing the old pension scheme in Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana after coming to power in these states.
“The Congress has made the old pension scheme a massive issue in Indian politics over the last two years. So much so that the Congress made even Priyanka Gandhi Vadra announce during elections in Himachal Pradesh that the party will implement the old pension scheme in the state if voted to power.”
Prasad said “Will this Congress only make announcements or implement them as well?
The Congress in general and Rahul Gandhi in particular, please tell the nation did you implement the old pension scheme as promised in Himachal Pradesh,” he said.
The BJP leader accused Gandhi of “bluffing” people by making false promises for votes and asked him to desist from such practice. (PTI)
