West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee stormed out of the 9th Governing Council meeting of NITI Aayog in New Delhi. The meeting on Saturday, July 27 was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Mamata said she was only allocated five minutes to speak, while other participants received 10 to 20 minutes..
"I said that the central government should not discriminate against state governments. I wanted to voice my concerns, but my microphone was muted. I was only permitted to speak for five minutes, whereas others had 10 to 20 minutes," Banerjee told reporters after exiting the meeting. "As the sole opposition representative present, I still faced restrictions on my speaking time. This is insulting," she added.
Banerjee's walkout occurred amid several Opposition-ruled states announcing their decision to boycott the meeting. Chief Ministers from three Congress-ruled states—Siddaramaiah of Karnataka, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu of Himachal Pradesh, and Revanth Reddy of Telangana—declared they would not attend. They cited perceived bias against their states in the Union Budget 2024.
Additionally, Tamil Nadu's Chief Minister and DMK leader MK Stalin, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, and the Aam Aadmi Party-led governments of Punjab and Delhi also opted to boycott the meeting.
Despite the boycott calls, Banerjee initially decided to attend, believing it was important for opposition voices to be heard on a common platform. The meeting aimed at fostering participative governance and collaboration between the Centre and state governments, with a focus on making India a developed nation by 2047.
Govt denies
However, the governmernt has denied Mamata Banerjee's allegation. The government has called these allegations of West Bengal CM false. PIB Fact Check wrote that Mamata was given full opportunity to speak.
(Prakash Pandey)
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