Chief minister Mamata Banerjee lashed out at the Narendra Modi government at the Centre for proposing to slash the interest rate on deposits in the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) to a four-decade low, mocking it as a “gift card” for the Assembly election victory in Uttar Pradesh.

In a series of tweets on Sunday, Mamata accused the BJP-led Centre of catering to the interests of the “big capital”, at the cost of the masses.

“After the vote victory in UP, BJP government comes out with its gift card immediately! It at once unmasks itself by proposing to slash the interest rate on Employees' Provident Fund deposits to a four-decade low nadir,” posted the Trinamul Congress chief on the microblogging site.

Sources close to the chief minister said she attempted to highlight the alleged ills of re-electing the BJP through her statement and would turn the issue into a major plank in her public engagements.

“This is amidst the pandemic-hit financial stresses of middle and lower middle class workers and employees of the country,” she added.

On Saturday, the EPF Organisation proposed to slash the rate of interest on deposits to 8.1 per cent for the ongoing fiscal from the current 8.5 per cent. The new interest rate — if ratified by the Union finance ministry — will be the lowest since 1977-78 when it was fixed at 8 per cent.

Union labour minister Bhupendra Yadav said the EPFO’s central board of trustees decided on the slash in the interest rate on the basis of the international situation, condition of the equity markets and “safety of investments”.

Opposition parties such as the Congress and the CPM have vehemently protested the decision.

“The anti-people, anti-worker step exposes the crudely lopsided public policies of the current central establishment which espouses interests of big capital at the expense of farmers, workers, and middle classes. The black initiative must be thwarted by united protests,” read another tweet by Mamata.

The EPFO had 24.49 crore members as of March 31, 2021. All of them belonged to the 15.93 lakh unexempted establishments that are mandatorily required to deduct a part of the salary and deposit the amount, along with their matching contribution, with the retirement fund.

The EPFO invests 85 per cent of its annual accruals in debt instruments, including government securities and bonds, and 15 per cent in equity through ETFs (exchange-traded funds) and mutual funds. The earnings from both debt and equity are used to calculate the interest payment.

The BJP, which is Bengal’s main Opposition party, predictably took a dig at Mamata over her stand on the EPF interest rate cut.

The party’s state chief spokesperson, Samik Bhattacharya, alleged that the Trinamul-led state government had ruined over 5 lakh government jobs and pushed the state’s economy downhill.

“Her government has taken away five-six years from the lives of people who appeared (in exams) for government jobs. She has no moral or political right to speak on any economic issue,” said Bhattacharya.