Mamata Banerjee claims unfair treatment, walks out of NITI Aayog meeting

Kolkata: West Bengal CM and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee along with party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee addresses the media at Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport before leaving for Delhi on July 26, 2024. (Photo: PTI)

3 minutes reading time Last update : July 27, 2024 | 1:25 p.m. IST

The 9th NITI Aayog Governing Council meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, got off to a rocky start when West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee stormed out of the meeting. She claimed that she was not allowed to speak during the meeting and her microphone was switched off, calling the incident “insulting”.

“I boycotted the meeting. Chandrababu Naidu was given 20 minutes to speak, CMs of Assam, Goa and Chhattisgarh spoke for 10-12 minutes. I was stopped from speaking after just five minutes. This is unfair. I said why did you stop me, why are you discriminating. I am attending the meeting, you should be happy, instead you are giving more leeway to your party, your government. This is not only an insult to Bengal but to all regional parties. This is unfair,” she told reporters.

#WATCH | At the NITI Aayog meeting in Delhi, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said, “…I said you (central government) should not discriminate against state governments. I wanted to speak, but I was allowed to speak only for 5 minutes. The people before me spoke for 10-20 minutes. I was… pic.twitter.com/nOgNQ9jnRd

— ANI (@ANI) July 27, 2024

The West Bengal chief minister said she had urged the central government not to discriminate against state governments. Banerjee further alleged that she was given only five minutes to speak, while those before her spoke for 10 to 20 minutes. Despite being the only member of the opposition participating, she found it insulting that she was not allowed to speak for longer.

Taking a dig at the NITI Aayog, she reiterated her stand that the NITI Aayog had no financial powers, so either these powers were given to the institution or the Planning Commission was restored.

“I am the only one representing the opposition here and attending this meeting because we have a bigger stake in cooperative federalism being strengthened. Even the budget has a political bias. I said, ‘Why are you discriminating against other states?’ Niti Aayog has no financial powers, how will it work? Give it financial powers or bring back the Planning Commission,” the TMC leader added.

Several opposition leaders boycott NITI Aayog meeting

Many chief ministers from the INDIA bloc, including Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin of the DMK, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and all three Congress chief ministers – Siddaramaiah of Karnataka, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu of Himachal Pradesh and Revanth Reddy of Telangana – have decided to boycott the meeting.

They criticised the Centre for a “biased” budget that would favour the NDA’s allies in Bihar and Andhra Pradesh. Stalin said the budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman looked like an “act of revenge” against states and people who boycotted the BJP, accusing the Centre of never taking Tamil Nadu into account.

Agenda of NITI Aayog meeting

Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired the 9th Governing Council of NITI Aayog on July 26. The primary objective of the meeting remained to make India a developed nation by 2047. Further, the Council meeting aimed to foster collaborative participation between the Centre and states, to better improve the quality of life in rural and urban areas.

The Governing Council, which is the apex body of NITI Aayog, consists of all the Chief Ministers of the states, Lieutenant Governors of the Union Territories and several Union Ministers. Prime Minister Modi is the Chairman of NITI Aayog.

First published: July 27, 2024 | 1:23 p.m. IST