CHENNAI: Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) state secretary P  Shanmugam on Sunday hit back at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president Nainar Nagenthran for describing the Tamil Nadu Assured Pension Scheme (TAPS) announcement as an “eyewash”.

In a post on X, Shanmugam said it was the BJP-led Union government that dismantled the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) and pushed government employees and teachers into uncertainty. He challenged the BJP to state whether it had the courage to restore the Old Pension Scheme across the country.

Shanmugam also questioned whether any BJP-ruled State had so far implemented the Old Pension Scheme, arguing that the criticism of TAPS lacked credibility.

He said the assured pension scheme announced by the Tamil Nadu government was a corrective step that addressed long-standing demands of government employees and teachers, unlike the policies pursued by the BJP at the national level.