'Mic was muted': Mamata walks out of NITI Aayog meeting
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee made a surprise appearance at a Niti Aayog meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday. Several opposition chief ministers had decided to boycott the ninth Governing Council meeting, where all states will get the opportunity to present their concerns and issues. On Friday, Banerjee said that she will be attending the meeting to protest the political discrimination meted out to Bengal.
Banerjee walks out of meeting
"They say the Budget shows cooperative federalism, but it is biased politicization...You can give some special package to your friends but you can't deprive opposition states completely," she stated. However, at the meeting on Saturday, she claimed she was allowed to speak for five minutes, prompting her to leave. "I was speaking, my mic was stopped...People before me spoke for 10-20 minutes. I was the only one from the opposition who was participating. This is insulting," Banerjee told reporters.
Union government sources refute Banerjee's claims
Union government sources have denied the claims made by Banerjee. "Claim that microphone of West Bengal CM was switched off during the meeting correct. The clock only showed that her speaking time was over. Even the bell was not rung to mark it," News18 quoted the sources as saying. "Alphabetically, her turn would have come after lunch. She was accommodated as the 7th speaker on an official request of West Bengal government as she had to return early," it said.
Banerjee addresses media
Opposition leaders boycott Niti Aayog meeting
Several opposition chief ministers, including Tamil Nadu's MK Stalin, Kerala's Pinarayi Vijayan, Punjab's Bhagwant Mann and all three Congress CMs—Karnataka's Siddaramaiah, Himachal Pradesh's Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and Telangana's Revanth Reddy—boycotted the meeting. Puducherry Chief Minister N Rangasamy also abstained after his budget proposals were approved. The Niti Aayog, the central government's top public policy think tank, comprises of the Prime Minister as Chairman, Chief Ministers of all states, Lieutenant Governors of several Union Territories, and various union ministers.
Central theme for the meeting is 'Viksit Bharat@2047'
The core focus of the meeting was to make India a developed nation by 2047. It seeks to promote participative governance and collaboration between the federal and state governments, thereby improving the quality of life for both rural and urban residents by increasing the delivery mechanisms of government interventions. The agenda includes discussing the Approach Paper for the Vision Document on Viksit Bharat @2047.
