Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee The Center on Sunday criticized the Center for cutting interest rates on Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF), claiming it was a “gift card”. BJP Government after the party’s victory in the recently concluded Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections and in Manipur and Uttarakhand.
He called for a united protest to thwart “anti-people steps taken at the cost of farmers, workers and middle class”.
“After the victory of UP, the BJP government immediately comes out with its gift card! This, at once, exposes itself by proposing to bring down the interest rate on Employees Provident Fund deposits to a four-decade low,” tweeted Banerjee.
On Saturday, the Center had cut interest rate on EPF deposits from 8.5 per cent in the previous year to a four-decade low of 8.1 per cent for 2021-22.
“This is amid the pandemic-ravaged financial strains of the country’s middle and lower middle class workers and employees. The anti-people, anti-labour move exposes the brutality of the unilateral public policies of the current central establishment, which protect the interests of big capital at the expense of farmers, workers and the middle classes. The Kali initiative should be thwarted by a united protest,” Banerjee said.