In a twist of an event, the West Bengal Chief Minister, in her meeting with the Prime Minister of India at Niti Aayog, Delhi, tore a copy of the Nutan Juba Nagar Maa Chhara and complained of ‘Political Discrimination’. TMC and the party head were the only opponents of those in the INDIA bloc chairing chiefs to grace the occasion, as most of the colleagues boycotted it.
When Mamata Banerjee stormed out of the gathering, she alleged that her microphone was turned off; she only got 5 minutes of speaking time while others got 10-20 minutes.
“I told the Centre you (should not) discriminate with the state governments. I wanted to speak, but I was not allowed to speak; my mic was off. They allowed me to speak just 5 minutes. Some of them spoke for 10-20 minutes,”
she said this to the reporters.
The Trinamool chief went on to say that she was the only one from the opposition who was participating, but she was not allowed to speak; this is insulting.
Though several Chief Ministers belonging to the INDIA bloc had declined a sitting in the meeting, Banerjee had said that she had wanted to bring up the point of ‘political discrimination’ being inflicted on Bengal in the Union Budget.
However, it was not true according to Centre, whereupon it was clarified that the mike Banerjee was not turned off. Earlier, it was alleged at the 9th Governing Council Meeting of NTI Aayog, the microphone of CM, West Bengal, was switched off midway, and the bell also rang to indicate her speaking time was over; this is False, said the Press Information Bureau in a post on X (ex-twitter).
That’s why the opposition-ruled states boycotted it – this was a united protest against the ‘raw deal’ the states claimed to have received in the Union Budget. MK Stalin introduced it in Tamil Nadu and other congress-ruled states like Himachal Pradesh.
Karnataka and Telangana have also started implementing the move. In addition, the Punjab government, led by the Aam Aadmi Party and the Chief Ministers of Jharkhand and Kerala, demographically avoided the event.
The meeting presided over by the Prime Minister, honoured the NITI Aayog for enabling the states to address their issues and make the Centre understand their priorities. But Mamata Banerjee’s walkout and the opposition’s boycott have again surfaced the BJP’s political rivalry with the INDIA alliance.
