After West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed that her microphone was switched off while she was speaking at the NITI Aayog meeting, former Chief Minister of Uttarakhand and senior Congress leader Harish Rawat said that it is “unfortunate” that a very senior CM is not allowed to speak.
Rawat’s statement comes after the West Bengal CM claimed that her microphone was switched off during a meeting of the NITI Aayog in the national capital on Saturday.
“It is very unfortunate that Mamata Banerjee, who is a very senior Chief Minister and the leader of the opposition, was not allowed to speak. We knew this, which is why the Chief Ministers of Congress and the opposition boycotted the meeting of Niti Aayog,” Rawat told ANI.
Harish Rawat also said, “Everything was scripted, and now only two people have to be saved: Nitish Kumar from Bihar and N Chandrababu Naidu from Andhra Pradesh, because the BJP has to save its government.”
Earlier, the central government’s fact-checking body refuted as “misleading” the claim made by the West Bengal CM about her microphone being switched off.
A PIB fact check today debunked her allegations, stating that “only the clock showed that her speaking time was over.”
“It is being claimed that the microphone of the CM, West Bengal, was switched off during the 9th Governing Council Meeting of NITI Aayog. This claim is misleading. The clock only showed that her speaking time was over. Even the bell was not rung to mark it,” the Press Information Bureau (PIB) said in a post on X.
According to the government fact-checking body PIB, Mamata Banerjee’s turn to speak would be only after lunch if one goes alphabetically, but she was “accommodated” as the seventh speaker on an official request from the Chief Minister.
“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,” PIB Fact Check explained in a subsequent tweet.
While speaking to reporters, the West Bengal Chief Minister alleged “political discrimination” and said that at the NITI Aayog meeting she was not allowed to speak for more than five minutes while other chief ministers were given more time.
“…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 she stormed out of the NITI Aayog meeting today.
“I was the only one from the opposition who was participating, but still, I was not allowed to speak. This is insulting…,” Banerjee said as she walked out midway from the meeting.
“I have come out boycotting the NITI Aayog meeting. Chandrababu Naidu was given 20 minutes to speak, Chief Ministers of Assam, Goa, and Chhattisgarh spoke for 10–12 minutes. I was stopped after just 5 minutes. This is unfair,” the Chief Minister said, speaking to reporters after coming out of the meeting.
Claiming that she had chosen to participate in the meeting to strengthen “cooperative federalism,” Banerjee 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.”
The Chief Minister said that several states, including West Bengal, were deprived in the Union Budget that was presented in Parliament this week.