West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee walked out of NITI Aayog’s 9th Governing Council meeting in New Delhi on Saturday, July 27, after claiming that she was only given five minutes to speak. The meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saw Banerjee expressing frustration over being muted while others spoke for 10 to 20 minutes.
“…I said you (central government) should not discriminate against state governments. I wanted to speak but my mic was muted. I was allowed to speak only for five minutes. People before me spoke for 10-20 minutes,” Banerjee told reporters after leaving the meeting.
“I was the only one from the opposition who was participating but still, I was not allowed to speak. This is insulting…,” she added.
Several opposition-ruled states have announced their decision to boycott the meeting. Chief Ministers of three Congress-ruled states—Siddaramaiah of Karnataka, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu of Himachal Pradesh, and Revanth Reddy of Telangana—have stated they will not attend due to perceived bias in the Union Budget 2024. Additionally, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, and the Aam Aadmi Party-led governments of Punjab and Delhi have also decided to skip the meeting.
Banerjee, who had initially participated in the meeting, had hoped to elevate their concerns on a unified platform.
The meeting aims to discuss strategies to make India a developed nation by 2047, focusing on enhancing participative governance and collaboration between the Centre and state governments to improve the quality of life in both rural and urban areas.
The NITI Aayog Governing Council, chaired by Prime Minister Modi, includes all state chief ministers, lieutenant governors of Union Territories, and several Union ministers. The meeting also addressed recommendations from the 3rd National Conference of Chief Secretaries held in December, which covered key themes such as drinking water, electricity, health, schooling, and land and property.
A vision document is being created to guide India towards becoming a USD 30 trillion economy by 2047, marking the 100th year of its independence. In 2023, NITI Aayog was tasked with consolidating 10 sectoral visions into a unified vision for Viksit Bharat @2047, encompassing economic growth, social progress, environmental sustainability, and good governance.