New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee walked out of a NITI Aayog meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Saturday and claimed that she was stopped unfairly midway through her speech, but the government refused the charge saying her speaking time was over.
Banerjee said her microphone was switched off after only five minutes, while other chief ministers including from Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Assam and Chhattisgarh, were allowed to speak for longer durations.
“This is insulting. I will not attend any further meeting,” the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo told reporters after walking out of the governing council meeting of the central government’s public policy think-tank, attended by various chief ministers and union ministers.
Several TMC leaders hit out at the government for what they called an unfair treatment meted out to the sole opposition representative at the meeting, while other INDIA bloc parties also came out in her support.
The BJP, however, took a swipe at the West Bengal chief minister, saying the walkout was premeditated and aimed at grabbing headlines.
The meeting was boycotted by Congress party CMs, as also by other opposition-ruled states barring West Bengal, over alleged discrimination against non-NDA-ruled states in the Union Budget.
Soon after walking out of the Niti Aayog meeting, Banerjee left for Kolkata and, later, told reporters in the state capital that she did not have any problem with the Centre allocating more funds to some states but they cannot discriminate against West Bengal.
She alleged that she was humiliated by not being allowed to speak at the Niti Aayog meeting.
Earlier in the day after coming out of the meeting, Banerjee said, “I have come out boycotting the meeting. (Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister) Chandrababu Naidu was given 20 minutes to speak peacefully. The chief ministers of Assam, Goa and Chhattisgarh spoke for 10-12 minutes. I was stopped from speaking after just five minutes.”
“This is unfair. I am the only one from the opposition side. I attended this meeting because of the greater interest that cooperative federalism should be strengthened,” she added.
However, PIB Factcheck, in a post on X, said it is “misleading” to say that Banerjee’s microphone was switched off. “The clock only showed that her speaking time was over,” it said.
It further said that Banerjee’s turn to speak would have come after lunch, but she was accommodated as the seventh speaker on an official request from the West Bengal government as she had to return to Kolkata early.
Banerjee said she mentioned during the meeting that the BJP-led Centre presented a politically-biased budget which discriminated against some states.
“They are politically biased. They are not giving proper attention to different states. Even the budget is a politically-biased budget,” she said.
“I do not have any problem with them giving special attention to some states. I asked why were they are discriminating against other states. This should be reviewed. I am speaking for all the states. I said we are the ones who work while they only give directions,” the TMC supremo said.
She also said the NITI Aayog does not have any financial powers and either it should be given those powers or the Planning Commission should be reinstated.
“The Planning Commission used to plan for states. The NITI Aayog has no financial powers. How will it work? Give it financial powers or bring the Planning Commission back.”:
“I also said how the MGNREGA and (Prime Minister) Awas (Yojana) funds were halted (for West Bengal) for three years. If they discriminate between their party and others, how will the country run? When they are in power, they have to take care of all,” Banerjee said.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin came out in support of his West Bengal counterpart.
“Is this Cooperative Federalism? Is this the way to treat a Chief Minister? The Union BJP government must understand that opposition parties are an integral part of our democracy and should not be treated as enemies to be silenced,” he said in a post on X.
“Cooperative Federalism requires dialogue and respect for all voices,” Stalin added.
Chief ministers of the INDIA bloc — Stalin (DMK), Kerala’s Pinarayi Vijayan (CPI-M), Punjab’s Bhagwant Mann (AAP), Congress’s Siddaramaiah (Karnataka), Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu (Himachal Pradesh) and Revanth Reddy (Telangana), and Jharkhand’s Hemant Soren (JMM) — skipped the NITI Aayog meeting.
Opposition parties have alleged that the states ruled by them have been ignored in the Union Budget presented recently in the Lok Sabha.
Modi chaired the NITI Aayog’s ninth Governing Council meeting, which focused on making India a developed country by 2047.
BJP general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh said, “It is very easy to grab headlines in our country. First, tell I am the only ‘Opposition CM’ attending Niti Aayog meeting. Come out & tell ‘I boycotted since mic was switched off’. Now whole day TVs will display the same. No work. No discussion. That’s Didi to you.”
The BJP’s IT department head Amit Malviya alleged that Banerjee’s walkout from the meeting was premeditated and for the cameras.
Union minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said the meeting was convened to discuss and deliberate on the country’s development.
“The state governments should extend their full support… this type of politics should not happen,” Meghwal added.
Meghwal’s cabinet colleague Pralhad Joshi also hit out at Banerjee and the INDIA bloc, saying the West Bengal chief minister did not offer a single seat in the state to the alliance and everyone knows how she works and what respect she gives to the Congress there.
Another INDIA bloc member, CPI’s General Secretary D Raja, justified the decision of several chief ministers to boycott the meeting, claiming that certain actions of the Centre are behind their move.
Taxes and funds were not being shared properly by the central government, Raja alleged.
