Mamata walks out of NITI meeting; her allegations refuted by FM

NEW DELHI: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday walked out of the 9th Governing Council meeting of NITI Aayog in New Delhi, alleging that she was allowed to speak for only five minutes while other Chief Ministers were given more time to address the meeting, which was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The council, which acts as the highest authority within NITI Aayog, comprises all state Chief Ministers, Lieutenant Governors of Union Territories and several Union Ministers. However, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman denied the allegations.

Sitharaman said it was “completely incorrect” for Mamata Banerjee to claim that her microphone was switched off and asserted that every chief minister at the meeting “was given time to speak.”
“CM Mamata Banerjee was present at the Niti Aayog meeting. We all heard her. Every CM was given the allotted time and that was displayed on the screen that was in front of every table… She said in the media that her microphone was switched off. That is completely untrue,” Sitharaman said.

“Every CM was given time to speak… It is unfortunate that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has claimed that her microphone was switched off, which is not true… She should have told the truth behind all this instead of again building a narrative based on lies,” the finance minister said.

CM Mamata Banerjee accused the central government of “political discrimination” during the NITI Aayog meeting in Delhi. She alleged that her mic was muted and she was allowed to speak only for five minutes while other chief ministers were given more time. “I said that you (the central government) should not discriminate against state governments. I wanted to speak but my mic was muted. I was allowed to speak only for 5 minutes. People before me spoke for 10-20 minutes,” Banerjee told reporters after leaving the NITI Aayog meeting here today. “I was the only one from the opposition to participate but still I was not allowed to speak. This is insulting,” Banerjee said as she walked out of the meeting midway.

Before leaving for Delhi, the All India Trinamool Congress president said, “I will protest against the political discrimination faced by Bengal at the NITI Aayog meeting. The budget reflects a clear bias against Bengal and other opposition states, which we cannot accept.” The Trinamool leader also accused BJP ministers and leaders of trying to divide Bengal and imposing economic and geographical blockades on the state.

She criticised the attitude of BJP ministers and leaders and accused them of wanting to divide Bengal. “Apart from imposing an economic blockade, they also want to impose a geographical blockade,” she said. “While Parliament was in session, several leaders made statements that they intended to divide Jharkhand, Bihar, Assam and Bengal. We strongly condemn this approach.” She also stated that dividing Bengal is equivalent to dividing the nation and added that she would raise her concerns in the assembly. If she was not allowed to speak, she would protest and walk out of the assembly.

“Dividing Bengal means dividing our country, India. We want to raise our voice in this situation and I will be there to do that. I will try to raise my voice if they allow me, or else I will protest and come out,” she said.

Several opposition-ruled states have announced that they will boycott the meeting. The chief ministers of three Congress-ruled states — Siddaramaiah in Karnataka, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu in Himachal Pradesh, Revanth Reddy in Telangana and Bhagwant Mann, the chief minister of Punjab — have announced that they will not attend the meeting due to alleged bias against their states in the Union Budget 2024.

The meeting was dedicated to transforming India into a developed nation by 2047. The objective is to promote participatory governance and collaboration between the central and state governments to improve the quality of life of both rural and urban populations through improved government intervention mechanisms.