West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee leaves Niti Aayog meet midway, alleges she was stopped from speaking

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee walked out of a Niti Aayog meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 27 and claimed that she was unfairly stopped midway in her speech, despite being the sole representative of the opposition.

Government sources, however, rejected her claim and said her speaking time was over.

Banerjee said her microphone was stopped after five minutes, while other chief ministers were allowed to speak for longer durations.

"This is insulting. I will not attend any further meeting," the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo said.

"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 of chief ministers chaired by Modi.

"This is unfair. From the opposition side, only I am representing here. I attended this meeting because of the greater interest that cooperative federalism should be strengthened," she added.

Government sources said it is incorrect to say that Banerjee's microphone was switched off and asserted that the clock showed that her speaking time was over.

They further added that alphabetically, her turn 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 government presented a politically-biased budget and asked why the central government was discriminating among 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 was stopped from speaking after five minutes. I said this is unfair. I am the only one present from the opposition side, I am attending this meeting because of the greater interest," she said.

Banerjee said she mentioned at the meeting that certain states were overlooked in the Union Budget for 2024-25.

"I said you are politically biased, you are not giving attention to different states. Even the budget is a political, biased budget.... I told them it should be reviewed. I spoke for all states," Banerjee said.

She also pointed out at the meeting that central funds are due to West Bengal under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and Prime Minister Awas Yojana.

Banerjee said she wanted to speak more but her microphone was switched off after five minutes.

"I was stopped after five minutes. Others spoke for 10-15-20 minutes. I was the only one from the opposition but I was stopped. This is insulting. I will not attend any further meetings," she said.

Earlier, Mamata Banerjee had said the public policy think-tank brought by the Modi government should be scrapped and the Planning Commission should be restored. During a media interaction, the West Bengal chief minister called the BJP a "tukde-tukde platform" and asserted she will not allow her state to be divided.

"They (BJP) have formed the government but they don't have people's mandate. This is the first time after the BJP came in 2014 that they have not formed the government as a single party," said the Trinamool Congress chief whose party is a constituent of the INDIA bloc.

She said that because of their "compulsions", the BJP-ruled NDA has brought a "politically very biased budget" which "deprives" all opposition states.

"I thought it is my duty to raise this voice at least on a common platform though I know the NITI Aayog has no financial powers," she said.

"Since the NITI Aayog has been planned, I have not seen a single work being done because they don't have any power. Earlier, there was a Planning Commission. As a chief minister... at that time I saw there was a system," she said.

The Trinamool Congress Chief said state governments had power to discuss their issues under the Planning Commission and it was very good at taking care of states in different areas. “But now there is no hope, no scope.” Banerjee said the NITI Aayog should be scrapped.

"I will raise my voice that stop this NITI Aayog. They do not have any financial power. They cannot do anything, only hold meeting once a year to show their face. Please bring back the Planning Commission again," Banerjee said.

"It was a plan of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, and since Independence, the Planning Commission has worked a lot for the country," she said.

Banerjee also said she considered skipping the meeting like other members of the INDIA bloc, but she was convinced by the party's national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee to attend the meet.

She also said the chief ministers were asked to give their speeches for the meeting a week in advance, and she had already submitted her speech even before the Budget was presented.

"They requested us to send our speeches seven days before the meeting. We have seen the Budget after that… we were not aware of their actual moto," she said.

Refuting Banerjee's allegations, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that she spoke her full time.

Sitharaman, who was present in the meeting, in a post on X said, "She (Mamata) 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. I was happy she attended.

"Was happier when she said she is speaking for Bengal and in fact for the entire opposition. I may agree or disagree with what she had to say. But now with her saying baseless things outside, I can only conclude that she is making an effort to keep I.N.D.I alliance happy."

Sitharaman said in response to a post by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh who backed Mamata's assertions and said the NITI Aayog "muzzles all divergent and dissenting viewpoints".

Jairam Ramesh in a social media post said, since it was established ten years ago, NITI Aayog has been an attached office of the PMO and has functioned as a drumbeater for the "non-biological" Prime Minister.

"It has not advanced the cause of cooperative federalism in any manner. Its functioning has been blatantly partisan, and it is anything but professional and independent.

"It muzzles all divergent and dissenting viewpoints, which are the very essence of an open democracy. Its meetings are a farce to be reckoned with.

Its treatment of the West Bengal CM today, although typical of the NITI Aayog, is unacceptable," Ramesh said in a post on X.

Several INDIA bloc CMs have skipped the meet as a mark of protest against the Union budget which, they alleged, was "anti-federal" in spirit and "extremely discriminatory" towards their states.

The list includes Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin of the DMK, Kerala Chief Minister and CPI(M) leader Pinarayi Vijayan, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann of the Aam Aadmi Party and all three Congress chief ministers – Karnataka's Siddaramaiah, Himachal Pradesh’s Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and Telegana’s Revanth Reddy.

Meanwhile, PM Modi chaired the 9th Governing Council meeting of NITI Aayog and said that making India a developed nation by 2047 is an ambition of every Indian, and states can play an active role in achieving this aim as they are directly connected with the people.

"Viksit Bharat @ 2047 is ambition of every Indian. States can play an active role to achieve this aim as they are directly connected with the people," NITI Aayog said in a post on X quoting Modi.

Modi further said this decade is of technological and geo-political changes, and also of opportunities.

"India should grab these opportunities and make our policies conducive for international investments. This is the stepping stone for progress to make India a developed nation," he added.

The council, the apex body of NITI Aayog, includes all state chief ministers, lieutenant governors of Union Territories, and several Union ministers. Prime Minister Modi is the chairman of NITI Aayog.

(PTI)