A day before the meeting of the Governing Council of NITI Aayog, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called for “scrapping” the body claiming that it had little use other than organising annual meetings.
Six Opposition Chief Ministers are skipping the meeting protesting the alleged bias in the Union Budget which they claim, only catered for the NDA-ruled States. Ms. Banerjee and her Jharkhand counterpart Hemant Soren are the only Opposition Chief Ministers who are expected to attend the meeting.
“They (BJP) have formed the government but they don’t have people’s mandate. This is the first time after the BJP came in, since 2014, they have not formed the government as a single party,” said the TMC chief.
She said that because of their “compulsions”, the BJP-ruled NDA has brought a “politically very biased Budget” which “deprives” all Opposition States.
‘No hope or scope’
Speaking to a select group of reporters in New Delhi, Ms. Banerjee said the Planning Commission provided a platform for the State governments, but with NITI Aayog, there is no “hope or scope”.
“I will tell them that NITI Aayog needs to be scrapped. They can’t do anything. All they do is hold annual meetings. Please bring the Planning Commission again,” she said, while adding that the erstwhile organisation had laid the roadmap for the development of the country as a whole and the States.
To several questions on why the Trinamool Congress decided to attend the meeting when other Opposition CMs were boycotting it, Ms. Banerjee said she had confirmed her presence almost a week before the INDIA bloc decided to skip the meeting in protest. She also underlined that she came to know about the INDIA bloc’s decision to boycott the meeting, only through the media reports. Her statement is at odds with the fact that Trinamool leaders were part of the meeting where this idea was first mooted. “They (NITI Aayog) had asked for my speech, seven days back, even before the Budget came,” Ms. Banerjee said.
‘Anti-poor Budget’
Expressing her disappointment with the Union Budget, she said it was “anti-poor” and “anti-people”. Ms. Banerjee said she was not sure about her participation, but decided to come in at the last minute. “I will speak for not only me (West Bengal) but for all others,” she said
.When asked if the Trinamool aligned with the BJP, does she feel West Bengal, like Bihar and Andhra Pradesh would have got special packages and more funds, she said: “I can not compromise with my ideology and can’t deviate from my commitment, whether it suits or not. We are not beggars.”
In case of West Bengal, she pointed out that the Centre has not given funds for several rural development schemes such as MNREGA for which the State government, she said, had to bear even the Centre’s share. A total of ₹1.71 lakh crore of the State’s dues remain unpaid by the Centre, Ms. Banerjee claimed. “Even our food subsidy has been withdrawn...they want to bulldoze their ideology,” she added while pointing out that the Union government has been insisting on branding all centrally-sponsored schemes with the Centre’s stamp.
