New Delhi: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee walked out of the NITI Aayog meeting in New Delhi on Saturday (July 27) alleging that she was not allowed to speak and her microphone was switched off.
Speaking to reporters, Banerjee said that she saw that the chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Assam, and Goa were allowed to speak for 10-12 minutes but she was stopped within five minutes.
“I said that you have deprived us in the budget and stopped all developmental schemes for Bengal. For the last three years the 100-day work in Bengal has been stopped, Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojana has been stopped..everything has been stopped including food subsidies. We are due Rs 1.71 lakh crore in central government funds till last year. In this budget also we have not got anything, only zero. I only said this much and they switched off my mic.
“I said ‘why do you discriminate? Why do you stop me? I am only attending, you should be happy about that. Instead of that you are giving more scope to your party your government. Only I am there from the opposition and you are stopping my mic. I don’t believe in this deprivation. So I am going’.”
“This is not only an insult to Bengal but to all regional parties,” she added.
Shortly after Banerjee spoke to reporters outside the meeting venue, the Press Information Bureau issued a fact check on X and called her claims “misleading.”
“This claim is misleading. The clock only showed that her speaking time was over. Even the bell was not rung to mark it,” PIB statement said.
It is being claimed that the microphone of CM, West Bengal was switched off during the 9th Governing Council Meeting of NITI Aayog#PIBFactCheck
▶️ This claim is #Misleading
Advertisement▶️ The clock only showed that her speaking time was over. Even the bell was not rung to mark it pic.twitter.com/P4N3oSOhBk
— PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) July 27, 2024
“Alphabetically, CM, West Bengal turn would have come after lunch. She was accommodated as the 7th speaker on an official request of the West Bengal government as she had to return early.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is chairing the NITI Aayog’s 9th Governing Council meeting in the capital. The council, of which Modi is the chairman, includes all state chief ministers and lieutenant governors of Union Territories as well as several Union ministers.
Union minister for finance Nirmala Sitharaman said that the meeting which was organised by defence minister Rajnath Singh had allotted time to every chief minister.
“Every CM was given the allotted time and that was displayed on the screen which was present before every table. Apparently she has now conveyed through the media that her mic was put off. That is completely false. Every CM was given their due time to speak,” she said to a news agency.
Sitharaman said that Singh had tapped on the mic to indicate that her time was over, and Banerjee could have requested to continue to speak like some other chief ministers did. She said that it was “unfortunate” that Banerjee claimed that her mic had been switched off and said that Banerjee chose to use an excuse to get out of the meeting.”
“It is unfortunate because we were quite happy that she participated in the meeting to speak for West Bengal and as she said all the opposition. But as we we were hearing her, as per the procedure if she is reminded that her time is over, she could have requested to continue speaking like some chief ministers did. But she chose to use that as an excuse to get out of the meeting,” the finance minister said.
‘Had decided to attend earlier’
On July 24, The Wire had reported that chief ministers of all opposition-ruled states – except Banerjee – had announced that they would boycott the NITI Aayog meeting as a mark of protest against a Budget which they felt had been “extremely discriminatory” towards their states.
Tamil Nadu chief minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader M.K. Stalin was first to announce his move, followed by Karnataka’s Siddaramaiah, Himachal Pradesh’s Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and Telangana’s Revanth Reddy. Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann of the Aam Aadmi Party made similar announcements.
On Friday, Banerjee arrived in Delhi after speculation that she too would be boycotting the meeting.
Speaking to reporters before leaving for Delhi, she said that she had earlier decided to attend the meeting and was asked to give her speech in writing a week ago, before the budget was presented.
“As I had decided to attend (the Niti Aayog meeting) earlier… I was asked to submit my speech in writing. This is before the Budget… but, the way they have completely deprived Bengal and other opposition states…we cannot accept this discrimination and political bias,” she said.
“Even after that their attitude from their ministers to the BJP including attempting to divide Bengal through economic, geographical and political blockade…to divide Bengal into parts…When Parliament is in process, the minister is making his own statement to divide Bengal. Now, different ministers from different states are making statements to divide Jharkhand, Assam, Bihar…we strongly condemn this. To divide Bengal, means to divide India. We don’t support this. In this situation I am going to record my voice if they allow me. If not I will protest and come back,” she said.
Opposition leaders have criticised the budget both inside and outside parliament for the disproportionate attention to Bihar and Andhra Pradesh to appease the Bharatiya Janata Party’s key allies Janata Dal (United) and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) terming it a “kursi bachao budget” that is “bribing” allies and is “anti-federal”. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections the BJP fell short of a majority as it won only 240 seats, relying on its allies in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to form the government.
Banerjee said on Saturday after walking out of the NITI Aayog meeting that she had attended it in “greater interest” on behalf of the opposition and to strengthen cooperative federalism.
“I am the only one from the opposition attending this meeting in greater interest. Cooperative federalism should be strengthened. You are doing political bias…you are not giving proper attention to different states in the budget…also, it is a politically biased budget. You give special attention to some states. I don’t have any problem. But why should you discriminate? You give directions but we do the work. Earlier we would work with the Planning Commission but the NITI Aayog does not have any financial powers. Either give it financial powers or bring back the Planning Commission,” she said.
“If you discriminate between your party and other parties, how will the country run? You have to take care of all,” she added.
