Mamata Banerjee alleges her mic turned off at Niti Aayog meet
Image credit X.com
Mamata Banerjee walks out of Niti Aayog Governing Council meeting
By Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi, July 27: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday alleged that she was not allowed to speak at the ninth Governing Council meeting of the Niti Aayog. She alleged that her mic was turned off, while she was given just five minutes to speak.
The ninth meeting of the Governing Council of the Niti Aayog is underway at the cultural Centre of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Banerjee left the meeting mid-way to return to Kolkata. “I left the meeting. I boycotted the meeting,” Banerjee told reporters.
“Chief Ministers of Assam and Chhattisgarh spoke for 10-15 minutes. But I was not allowed to speak after five minutes. My mic was turned off. I was not allowed to speak at the meeting,” Banerjee told reporters after emerging out of the meeting.
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The West Bengal chief minister charged that she attended the meeting for the “greater interests”. “I was the only chief minister from the Opposition present in the meeting,” said Banerjee.
The PIB released a fact check statement afterwards, saying that the claims made by the West Bengal chief minister were false. The PIB Fact Check said that the allegations of the mic turned off were “misleading”.
“It is being claimed that the microphone of CM, West Bengal was switched off during the 9th Governing Council Meeting of NITI Aayog. The clock only showed that her speaking time was over. Even the bell was not rung to mark it,” the PIB Fact Check in post on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, stated while tagging the media byte of Banerjee in which she could be clearly hard saying that the mic was turned off.
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“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,” added the PIB Fact Check.
Incidentally, there was no clarification yet from the Niti Aayog, while the PIB Fact Check unit came out with denials on the social media platform.
Banerjee broke ranks with the Opposition parties to attend the ninth meeting of the Governing Council. She had told reporters yesterday that she would protest against the Niti Aayog at the meeting.
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The West Bengal chief minister had also told reporters that she would demand restoration of the Planning Commission. Banerjee had also said that she would be the voice of the Opposition at the meeting of the Governing Council.
Meanwhile, the Niti Aayog released a statement, quoting Prime Minister Narendra Modi having told the Governing Council that states should play key roles in making India a ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047.
“Viksit Bharat @ 2047 is ambition of every Indian. States can play an active role to achieve this aim as they are directly connected with the people,” Modi said at the the 9th Governing Council Meeting of the Niti Ayog. The Governing Council meeting is being attended by Chief Ministers and Lt. Governors.
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