Will protest political discrimination of Bengal in Niti Aayog meet: Bengal CM Mamata
Kolkata: Putting speculation at rest, West Bengal Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee flew to New Delhi on Friday to attend Saturday’s Niti Aayog meeting, to be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to “raise her voice” against the Centre's discrimination against the non-BJP states in the Union Budget.
The Trinamul supremo threatened to protest and walk out of the apex policy body's meeting if she was not allowed to speak. Many Congress Chief Ministers have decided against attending the Niti Aayog meeting, as have M.K. Stalin (Tamil Nadu, DMK), Pinarayi Vijayan (Kerala, CPM) as well as the Aam Aadmi Party-led Punjab and Delhi governments.
Before reaching the national capital, the CM said at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, “I am going there for a while to record my voice. I will record my voice, if allowed. Otherwise, I will protest and leave. I will try to speak for my state. As far as I know, Hemant (Soren) is also going to attend the meet. He will speak for his state. So we will speak on behalf of everybody.”
She added, “Before the budget, I had said I would attend the meeting. A copy of my written speech was also sent to Niti Aayog as per requirement. When the Budget was placed, I found states ruled by Opposition parties, were neglected. They faced step-motherly attitude. I want to speak about this. We cannot accept this discrimination. This is political bias.”
Mamata Banerjee, who was accompanied by her MP and nephew Abhishek Banerjee, also slammed Union minister and BJP state chief Sukanta Majumdar for seeking the “divison” of Bengal.
Attacking the ruling party at the Centre, Mamata Banerjee alleged, “The attitude of the ministers and BJP is always to conspire the division of Bengal. On one hand, there is economic blockade while on the other is geographical blockade, political blockade and break country into pieces.”
In a veiled reference to Majumdar, Mamata Banerjee claimed, “A minister made a statement to divide Bengal when Parliament is in session. Now, different party members are also giving statements on dividing Bengal, Bihar, Assam and Jharkhand. We strongly condemn this attitude. Dividing Bengal means dividing our country. We don't support this.”
