 "Mamata Banerjee alleges unfair treatment, walks out of NITI Aayog meeting")
The 9th Governing Council Meeting of NITI Aayog, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was off to a rocky start as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee stormed out of the meeting. She alleged that she wasn’t allowed to speak during the meeting and that her mic was turned off, labelling the incident “insulting”.
“I have come out boycotting 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 of that you are giving more scope to your party, your government. This is not only an insult to Bengal but also to all regional parties. This is unfair,” she told reporters.
The West Bengal CM stated that she had urged the central government not to discriminate against state governments. Banerjee further alleged that she was only given five minutes, whereas those before her spoke for 10-20 minutes. Despite being the only opposition member participating, she felt it was insulting that she was not allowed to speak longer.
Taking potshots at the NITI Aayog, she reiterated her stance that NITI Aayog had no financial powers, so either those powers were accorded to the institution or the Planning Commission brought back.
“From the opposition side, only I am representing here, and attending this meeting because of the greater interest that cooperative federalism should be strengthened. Even the Budget also has 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 CMs boycott NITI Aayog meet
Many INDIA bloc chief ministers, including Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin of the DMK, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, and all three Congress chief ministers—Karnataka’s Siddaramaiah, Himachal Pradesh’s Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, and Telangana’s Revanth Reddy—decided to boycott the meeting.
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They criticised the Centre for a “biased” Budget that allegedly favoured the NDA’s Bihar and Andhra Pradesh allies. Stalin expressed that the Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman seemed like a ‘vengeful act’ against the states and people who boycotted the BJP, accusing the Centre of continuously disregarding Tamil Nadu.
Agenda of NITI Aayog meeting
Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired the NITI Aayog’s 9th Governing Council on July 26. The meeting’s main objective remained about making India a developed nation by 2047. Further, the Council meeting aimed at fostering collaborative participation between the Centre and the states, to better improve the quality of life in both rural and urban areas.
The Governing Council, which is the apex body of NITI Aayog, consists of all state chief ministers, lieutenant governors of Union Territories, and several Union ministers. Prime Minister Modi is the chairman of NITI Aayog.