Everybody from Rahul Gandhi to BMS takes credit for EPF rollback

The withdrawal even prompts the Sangh Parivar's BMS and online petition platform change.org to claim victory

The withdrawal of the Budget proposal to tax EPF led to a rush of claimants. Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi to the Sangh Parivar’s BMS have claimed credit for having pushed the govt to concede on the issue.

BMS Organising Secretary Pawan Kumar said the outfit thanked not just the government for withdrawing the proposal but also those who supported the trade union in its demand for rolling it back. “We now ask the government to immediately implement the entire ‘agreed agenda’ at the meeting of the senior ministers with trade union representatives on August 22,” Kumar said. These demands include increasing minimum wage ceiling, better emoluments for anganwadi workers and for contract workers.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sources stressed how the rollback came about after the Prime Minister’s personal intervention.

Meanwhile, Gandhi said in a series of tweets the government was forced to listen to people. “But the attempt to tax the safety net of millions of hard-working, middle-class people was morally wrong and shows this government’s anti-people mindset,” he tweeted.

The Congress Vice-President also claimed credit for the rollback. “I felt middle-class people were being hurt by the government, so I decided to put some pressure on the government … my pressure did work,” he said.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) chief Sitaram Yechury tweeted: “Good that EPF tax is rolled back. But one big Budget announcement and four different clarifications! Maximum government, minimum governance! Modi Sarkar.”

Online petition platform change.org also claimed victory. Vaibhav Agarwal, a finance professional from Gurgaon, had posted a petition demanding a rollback. It had received support from 250,000 people.