New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Saturday stormed out of the meeting of the NITI Aayog’s governing council, claiming that her microphone was turned off 5 minutes into her speech in which she attacked the Centre for financially “discriminating” against the opposition-ruled states.
Later, the Centre rejected her allegation, terming it as “misleading”. “The clock only showed that her speaking time was over. Even the bell was not rung to mark it,” the Press Information Bureau (PIB) posted on ‘X’.
Mamata, the only chief minister from the Opposition, to have attended the meeting chaired by PM Narendra Modi, also said that either NITI Aayog be restructured to enable it to help the states financially, or the Planning Commission, which was dissolved by the Modi government, be brought back.
“I have come out and boycotted the meeting. (Andhra Pradesh CM) Chandababu Naidu spoke for 20 minutes. The chief ministers of Assam, Goa, Chhattisgarh spoke for 10 to 12 minutes. But I was stopped 5 minutes into my speech. I said this is unfair. I am the only one from the opposition attending the meeting. I did it for the greater interest as I believe cooperative federalism should be strengthened,” Mamata told reporters after walking out of the meeting.
The West Bengal CM said she would not attend any meetings of NITI Aayog in the future. She has skipped many previous meetings of the NITI Aayog’s governing council, including in 2023 and 2019, and called it “toothless” in the past.
Later, Tamil Nadu CM M.K.Stalin came out in support of his Bengal counterpart and said that “cooperative federalism requires dialogue and respect for all voices”.
Is this #CooperativeFederalism?
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.
Cooperative Federalism requires dialogue and… https://t.co/Y6TKmLUElG
— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) July 27, 2024
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo was the sole opposition CM in the meeting, which was skipped by her counterparts of Congress-ruled Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Telangana; CPI(M)-led Kerala; AAP-ruled Punjab and Delhi; and Jharkhand, where the JMM is in power.
On Saturday, Mamata had said that she was expecting Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren to attend the meeting. However, Soren also stayed away eventually, with JMM sources attributing his decision to “coalition dharma” as the Congress is a part of the ruling alliance in the state.
Mamata said instead of cutting short her speech, the Centre “should have been happy” that she was the only one from the opposition to have shown up in the meeting.
Interacting with reporters on Friday, the Bengal CM had clearly indicated that she was prepared to get into a confrontation if attempts were made to prevent her from speaking her mind in the meeting of the think tank’s apex body, which is made up of the CMs and lieutenant governors of union territories among others.
Mamata said before she was stopped abruptly, she underlined that the Centre cannot discriminate between the states based on its political equation with the parties governing them. Alluding to the special financial packages to Andhra Pradesh and Bihar in the annual budget presented last week, the Bengal CM said she doesn’t mind some states drawing “special attention” from the Centre as long as others are not deprived.
“I raised this and demanded a review. I said I am speaking on behalf of all the states. The Planning Commission used to plan for the states. This NITI Aayog does not have any financial power. Either you give it financial power or bring back the Planning Commission. I also flagged the squeezing of MNREGS, Awas Yojana funds to Bengal. When you are in power, you cannot discriminate. Then they stopped the mic,” she said.
TMC sources said her decision to attend Saturday’s meeting despite attempts by the INDIA bloc to persuade her to give it a miss was essentially a move to send out a message to the Congress that her political actions will not be guided by the strategies drawn up by the main opposition party.
With 29 MPs in the Lok Sabha, the TMC is the third largest opposition party in the 18th Lok Sabha, behind the Congress and the Samajwadi Party. Earlier this month, Mamata, on a visit to Mumbai to attend a wedding in the Ambani family, met NCP (SP) leader Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav also shared the dais with her in Kolkata last week at the TMC’s Martyrs’ Day rally. On Friday, she also met jailed Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s wife Sunita at his official residence.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also Read: Don’t teach me foreign policy: Mamata on MEA’s remarks on sheltering people fleeing Bangladesh
