Mamata Banerjee storms out of Niti Aayog meet, says not allowed to speak

Animesh Singh

New Delhi, July 27

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday walked out of the Niti Aayog’s governing council meeting, claiming that she was stopped unfairly midway through her speech and her mike was switched off.

Denying Banerjee’s claim, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the West Bengal CM was given ample time to speak.

Nitish skips meeting, sends deputies

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar did not attend the Niti Aayog meeting on Saturday. The state was represented by Deputy CMs Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, officials said. The cause for Kumar’s absence from the crucial meeting was not known.

The Chief Ministers of opposition-ruled states like Karnataka, Telangana, Kerala, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu had boycotted the meeting that focused on ‘Ease of Living’ and the roadmap for Viksit Bharat@2047. Interestingly, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar too skipped the event.

Stopped after 5 minutes

Andhra CM N Chandrababu Naidu was given 20 minutes to speak. The CMs of Assam, Goa and Chhattisgarh spoke for 10-12 minutes (each). I was stopped from speaking after just five minutes. Mamata Banerjee, West Bengal Chief Minister

Banerjee, who was the only CM from the INDIA bloc-ruled states to attend the meeting presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, told reporters that Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu was allowed to speak for 20 minutes, while other CMs of BJP-ruled states like Assam, Goa and Chhattisgarh were also given ample time to air their views. “I have come out boycotting the meeting.

Naidu was given 20 minutes to speak. The CMs of states like Assam, Goa and Chhattisgarh spoke for 10-12 minutes (each). I was stopped from speaking after just five minutes. This is unfair. From the opposition side, I was the only one here. I attended the meeting because cooperative federalism should be strengthened,” she said.

On Friday, she had told mediapersons that she would attend the meeting as a mark of protest and to convey to the Centre to scrap the Niti Aayog as it did not have any financial power. She had said that she would urge the government to bring back the Planning Commission.

The West Bengal CM said she mentioned during the meeting that the BJP-led Centre presented a politically-biased Budget, which discriminated against some states.

“They have discontinued all welfare projects in Bengal and deprived the state of its rightful Awas Yojana and rural roads scheme. They have also stopped the food subsidy. We are deprived of funds worth Rs 1.71 lakh crore. This Budget has nothing but zero (for us). Immediately after I said this, the mic was switched off,” she said.

Meanwhile, Sitharaman told a new agency that Banerjee’s claim was “completely false”.

“Apparently she has conveyed to media that her mike was switched off, which is completely false. It is unfortunate that she has claimed so, but it is not true as every CM was given ample time to speak. If she wanted to speak beyond her fixed time, then she could have continued to do so by conveying to Rajnath Singh, who was managing the time for all speakers. But she chose to use that as an excuse to get out of the meeting, and is now building a narrative,” she said.

The PIB also said the West Bengal CM’s claim was “misleading”.

“The clock only showed that her speaking time was over. Even the bell was not rung to mark it,” it said in a series of posts on X.

“Alphabetically, her turn would have come after lunch. She was accommodated as the seventh speaker on an official request of the West Bengal Government as she had to return early,” it said further.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin criticised the Centre over the treatment meted out to Banerjee.

“Is this cooperative federalism? Is this the way to treat a Chief Minister? The BJP-led Union 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 respect for all voices,” he posted on X.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said the Niti Aayog had only been working as an extension of the PMO since it came into existence 10 years ago and that it had always crushed the spirit of cooperative federalism. He added that all its meetings were mere formalities with nothing concrete to offer.