After West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed that she was not allowed to speak at the NITI Aayog meeting, the Centre has refuted the claim and said her mic was never turned off.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting of the NITI Aayog in Delhi on Saturday. Mamata, the supremo of Trinamool Congress (TMC), was the only chief minister of the INDIA-ruled states to attend the meeting. All other CMs had boycotted the meeting.
Mamata walked out of the meeting and claimed that she was unfairly stopped midway in her speech despite being the sole representative of the opposition. The Centre, however, rejected her claim and said her speaking time was over.
‘This is insulting, I’ll not any further meeting’
Mamata said her microphone was switched off after five minutes, while other chief ministers were allowed to speak for longer durations.
“This is insulting. I will not attend any further meeting,” said Mamata.
“I have come out boycotting the meeting. (Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister) Chandrababu Naidu was given 20 minutes to speak. The chief ministers of Assam, Goa, Chhattisgarh spoke for 10-12 minutes. I was stopped from speaking after just five minutes,” she told reporters after coming out of the meeting.
Mamata further said, “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.”
Govt issues rebuttal to Mamata’s allegation
The Centre issued rebuttals to Mamata’s allegations and said that her statement was “misleading”. The Press Information Bureau (PIB), the media arm of the Union government, said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that it is “misleading” to say that Mamata’s microphone was switched off.
“The clock only showed that her speaking time was over,” said PIB.
Sources said alphabetically, Mamata’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.
In a separate post on X, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said microphones were not switched off and the screen on the table merely showed the time for the speakers. She said this in response to a tweet by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh’s post who backed Mamata’s assertions and said the NITI Aayog “muzzles all divergent and dissenting viewpoints”.
“Jairam, you weren’t even there! We all heard Honourable CM Mamata Banerjee. She spoke her full time. The screen in front of our tables kept showing the time. A few other CMs spoke beyond their allotted time. On their own request, extra time was allowed without any fuss. Mikes were not switched off, not for anybody, particularly, not for CM, WB. Mamata ji has chosen to spread falsehood,” said Sitharaman.
Terming the allegations “baseless”, Sitharaman said she is doing what is doing to “keep I.N.D.I alliance happy”.
Mamata slams Budget as politically-biased
Mamata said she mentioned during the meeting that the BJP-led Centre presented a politically-biased budget and asked why it was discriminating among 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 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.
Mamata 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 the states. The NITI Aayog has no financial powers. How will it work? Give it financial powers or bring the Planning Commission back,” she said.
“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 (Aam Aadmi Party), Congress’s Siddaramaiah (Karnataka), Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu (Himachal Pradesh) and Revanth Reddy (Telangana), and Jharkhand’s Hemant Soren (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha) – 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 is chairing the NITI Aayog’s ninth Governing Council meeting, which focuses on making India a developed country by 2047.
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