BJP, Opposition spar over UPS; ‘Latest pension scheme worse than NPS,’ says AAP

Prime Minister Narendra Modi government's decision to approve the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) for government employees has a triggered yet another political storm with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Opposition led by the Congress party exchanging barbs over the decision.

The slugfest over the decision approved on August 23 has refused to die down with the Congress claiming that the 'U' in the UPS stands for the Modi government's ‘U-turns.’ The BJP hit back at the opposition party asking why it has not implemented the promised Old Pension Scheme (OPS) in states where it is in power.

The Congress' INDIA bloc partner Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) called UPS a ‘massive fraud’ on employees in the country as it would not cover the paramilitary forces because ‘their service itself is not for 25 years’, the qualifying criteria to avail of the full benefit under the UPS.

The controversy comes days after a political row over the UPSC advertisement about ‘lateral entry’ into bureaucracy. Modi government ordered the withdrawal of the advertisement on August 21, three days after it was released, amid uproar from the opposition and a few BJP allies.

The UPS assures a pension of 50 per cent of the basic salary for those who joined the service after January 1, 2004, fulfilling a long-pending demand of government employees, according to the government. Employees opting for the UPS would be eligible for an assured pension after service of 25 years.

"The 'U' in UPS stands for Modi Govt's U turns! Post June 4 (when the Lok Sabha poll results were announced), the power of the people has prevailed over the arrogance of power of the Prime Minister," Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said taking a dig at Modi government.

"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.

Worse than NPS, says AAP

In a post on X, the Aam Aadmi Party said, "Unified Pension Scheme is worse than the New Pension Scheme. This is a big fraud on the employees in the country. Paramilitary forces of the country have been excluded from this pension scheme. They will not come under this purview their service itself is not for 25 years."

"It has been proven that what all the parties and opposition parties were saying was correct. Opposition was raising the voices of people. The central government itself suppressed all its employees. The way the central government employees voted against the BJP has come to its senses a bit, and I think they (BJP will take back their other decisions like the Agniveer scheme very soon," AAP leader and Delhi government minister Saurabh Bharadwaj told news agency ANI.

The BJP, however, hailed Prime Minister Modi for bringing the UPS. "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," senior party leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

He slammed Congress president Kharge for his "U-turn" jibe at the Centre.

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.

"Will this Congress only make announcements or implement them as well? Congress, in general, and Rahul Gandhi, in particular, please tell the nation that you implemented 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.

"We are proud of Prime Minister Modi that he listened to and understood the concerns of the (central government) employees, set up a committee to look into that, and a meaningful decision was made. On behalf of the party, we greet the government, especially the prime minister for this," he added.

Prasad said the Congress had become ‘so weary of the palpable falsehood’ of its assurance about the pension scheme that it could not muster the courage to include it in its Lok Sabha poll manifesto.

(With PTI inputs)