West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, on Saturday, walked out of the Niti Aayog meeting and claimed that she did so in protest as her microphone was switched off in the middle of her speech.
“I was not allowed to even speak for five minutes. I was insulted as my microphone was switched off after I had spoken just for about five minutes,” the Chief Minister told media persons after coming out of the meeting.
Mamata Banerjee was the only chief minister from any non-BJP-ruled state to attend the meeting on Saturday which is being chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
On Friday, before leaving for New Delhi, she said at Kolkata airport that her counterpart from Jharkhand Hemant Soren would be attending the Niti Aayog meeting but the latter did not turn up on Saturday.
Speaking to the media persons, she also alleged that she was not allowed to speak for more than five minutes when chief ministers of certain states were allowed to speak even for 20 minutes. “So I walked out of the meeting protesting against such favouritism,” Mamata Banerjee said.
Claiming that she was the sole representative from the Opposition bloc at the meeting, Mamata Banerjee said that she intended to say something on certain issues. “But my microphone was switched off before I could say that. In future, I will not be attending any meeting of Niti Aayog,” she said.
In fact, the possibility of her walking out of the meeting was hinted at by her on Friday only before leaving Kolkata, when she said that she would try to highlight the twin issues of West Bengal being financially deprived and the reported attempts to divide the state.
“All the opposition-ruled states have been deprived in the last budget proposals. I cannot accept such favouritism. So I will be raising my voice on behalf of all at the meeting. All sorts of financial and geographical conspiracies are going on to divide the state. Messages are being spread to divide Bengal. The division of Bengal means the division of the country. We cannot accept this. In such a situation, I will be there at the meeting for some time. If I am allowed to get my voice recorded, I will do that. Otherwise, I will walk out in protest,” the Chief Minister had said.