Mamata Banerjee storms out of NITI meet, says mic switched off during speech, FM rejects charge

Emerging from the meeting, Banerjee told media persons that she was walking out in protest. “Chandrababu Naidu (Andhra Pradesh CM) was given 20 minutes to speak, Chief Ministers of Assam, Goa, Chhattisgarh spoke for 10-12 minutes. I was stopped (from speaking) after just 5 minutes. This is unfair…insulting,” she said.

She said she had attended the meeting in the greater interest of strengthening cooperative federalism. Claiming that her microphone was switched off, she said, “I said this is unfair. (I am the) only one from the Opposition side, only I am representing here. I am attending this meeting because of the greater interest that cooperative federalism should be strong, strengthened.”

Targeting the Central government, she said, “You are politically biased, you are not giving proper attention to different states. Even the Budget is a political, biased Budget. You give special attention to some states, I don’t have any problem. But why do you discriminate? You should review this. I said I am speaking for every state.”

Banerjee said she spoke about West Bengal at the meeting, about how the Awas Yojana had been stopped three years ago and the rural roads scheme too had stopped.

“No government functions like this. You should not discriminate. If you discriminate between your party and other parties, then how will the country run? When you are in power, you have to take care of all,” she said.

“There are many regional aspirations. That is why I am here, to share those aspirations. If a state is strong, the Union will be strong. Many states have been deprived in the Budget, including Bengal. Bengal has been deprived of MNREGA funds for the last three years, nothing paid. Treat all states equally. I said that today. I am speaking on behalf of all the states which have been deprived,” she said.

She questioned how the NITI Aayog will work if it has no financial powers. “Give it financial powers, or bring back the Planning Commission,” she said.

TMC sources claimed that Banerjee’s microphone was switched off immediately after she raised questions on the “discrimination” in the Budget and “stopping” of welfare projects for West Bengal.

The government, through its Press Information Bureau, rejected the Chief Minister’s charge about the microphone being switched off.

“This claim is #Misleading. The clock only showed that her speaking time was over. Even the bell was not rung to mark it,” the PIB Fact Check handle said in a post on X. “Alphabetically, CM, West Bengal turn would have come after lunch. She was accommodated as the 7th speaker on an official request of the West Bengal government as she had to return early,” the post stated.

Coming out in support of Banerjee, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK leader M K Stalin, who stayed away from the meeting, posted on X: “Is this cooperative federalism? Is this the way to treat a Chief Minister? The Union BJP government must understand that opposition parties are an integral part of our democracy and should not be treated as enemies to be silenced. Cooperative Federalism requires dialogue and respect for all voices.”

Jairam Ramesh, Congress general secretary, attacked the NITI Aayog, calling it “an attached office of the PMO” and said its “functioning has been blatantly partisan”. In a post on X, he said, “Its treatment of the West Bengal CM today, although typical of the NITI Aayog, is unacceptable.”

This drew a response from Finance Minister Sitharaman who said, “Jairam, you weren’t even there! We all heard Hon. CM Mamata Banerjee. She spoke her full time. The screen in front of our tables kept showing the time. A few other CMs spoke beyond their allotted time. On their own request, extra time was allowed without any fuss. Mikes were not switched off, not for anybody, particularly, not for CM, WB. Mamata ji has chosen to spread falsehood.”

“I was happy she attended. Was happier when she said she is speaking for Bengal and in fact for the entire opposition. I may agree or disagree with what she had to say. But now with her saying baseless things outside, I can only conclude that she is making an effort to keep I.N.D.I alliance happy,” Sitharaman said.

At a press conference following the meeting, NITI Aayog CEO B V R Subrahmanyam said Banerjee was scheduled to speak after lunch but requested for the slot to be moved up.

“The Chief Minister of West Bengal had made a request to be given a turn before lunch time… It was a very clear request from their side because normally we would have gone alphabetically. Because West Bengal would be ‘W’, it would certainly come post lunch session,” he said.

“She made her statement. Every Chief Minister is allotted 7 minutes… and a clock on top of the screen, which tells you the time that is remaining… at the end of that, it shows 0… the Raksha Mantri just (tappped) on his table and then she said, ‘Look, I would have liked to speak for more time, but I will not speak anymore’. That was it. We all heard, we made our points… which will be reflected in the minutes,” he said.

Responding to Banerjee’s criticism that NITI Aayog has no financial powers, Subrahmanyam said while NITI is not a forum for distributing money, it acts as a forum for both the Centre and the states to generate consensus.

There were 10 absentees at the meeting – Chief Ministers of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, Bihar, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jharkhand gave it a miss. There was also no representation from Delhi and Puducherry.

“We had a lot of last-minute dropouts. I have speeches of some states who have not participated… something would have happened at the last minute or so… Those who did not participate, I always say in these things it is their loss if they have not shared, that the room is richer if they are there,” Subrahmanyam said.