NITI Aayog: Allegations of ‘discrimination’ raised against Center in unison against Mamata
Mamata’s claim, then the Centre’s counter-argument – All in all, heated national politics. When the BJP called Mamata’s words ‘false’ in front of the PIB’s demands, the opposition stood united.
He was not allowed to speak in the NITI Aayog meeting. Stopped midway. Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee raised this complaint on Saturday. Although the Center denied his claim, nothing happened. But several leaders of the opposition alliance “India” have started to open their mouths against the BJP one by one. Congress, AAP, JMM almost all talked about ‘discrimination’.
A NITI Aayog meeting was held at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Saturday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Although the seven chief ministers of the opposition alliance “India” boycotted the meeting in advance, the chief minister of Bengal was present. However, Mamata was seen walking out of the Rashtrapati Bhavan in the middle of the meeting. Coming out and facing the reporters, he complained, “Chandrababu Naidu has been allowed to speak for 20 minutes.
While other Chief Ministers were given 10 to 20 minutes to speak, I was not allowed to speak for even five minutes. Before that, the mic was turned off. I have walked out of the meeting protesting this deprivation.” However, a statement issued by the central government’s Press Information Bureau (PIB) termed the allegation of mic ban as ‘misguided’.
Mamata’s claim, then the Centre’s counter-argument – after all, national politics has been heated since Saturday afternoon. While the BJP is calling Mamata’s words ‘false’ in front of PAB’s demands, the opposition unitedly stood by the Bengal Chief Minister. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh slammed the Niti Aayog meeting as ‘biased’.
Ramesh (ex-Twitter) wrote in the handle’s post, “The federal infrastructure was never prioritized in this meeting. It can never complement open democracy. Nothing but farce. The way West Bengal Chief Minister was treated is not acceptable.” Not only Jairam, Congress MP Rajeev Shukla, Congress spokesperson Sachin Rawat also protested in the same tone. Some have compared it to Rahul Gandhi’s ‘mic off’ during his speech in Parliament.
Apart from the Congress, among the partners of ‘India’, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin also condemned the BJP. He posted on social media asking, “Can a Chief Minister be treated like this?” The DMK chief added, “The BJP government at the Center must understand that opposition parties are an integral part of our democracy. It is not right to treat them as an enemy while keeping them quiet.”
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) alleged that the Niti Aayog meeting was “discriminated”. They said, “When Mamata Banerjee was asking a legitimate question, her mic was turned off. If you invite someone to insult in this way, then who will go? Everyone has self-respect.”
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has also slammed the BJP over Saturday’s incident. AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said, “Differentiation has been done with the states in the budget. When it was protested in Parliament, Trinamool was also protesting. In such a situation she (Mamata Banerjee) wanted to go to the meeting and face the truth. What he said after coming out of there is absolutely right.
However, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman called Mamata’s claim ‘false’. In this context, he said, “Mamata Banerjee attended the Niti Aayog meeting. We have all heard of him. Each chief minister was given a fixed time. The time was also showing on the table in front of them. Every Chief Minister was given equal time. It is unfortunate that the Chief Minister of Bengal is making such false claims. He should tell the truth.
BJP leader Piyush Goyal said that in that meeting, everyone was given five minutes to speak. It was in an ‘automatic mode’. However, what is ‘automatic mode’ is not explained. While Piyush spoke for five minutes, Himanta Biswa Sharma claimed that everyone was given seven minutes to speak in the meeting. He said seven and a half minutes. After the meeting, however, Mamata claimed that she was not allowed to speak for even five minutes.