NITI Aayog functioning as drumbeater for PM Modi: Jairam Ramesh

New Delhi [India], July 27 : Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh on Saturday lashed out at NITI Aayog, accusing it of being "blatantly partisan" and claiming that the advisory body has not fulfilled its intended purpose of promoting cooperative federalism.
"Since it was established ten years ago, NITI Aayog has been an attached office of the PMO and has functioned as a drumbeater for the non-biological PM. It has not advanced the cause of cooperative federalism in any manner," Ramesh said in a post on X.
"Its functioning has been blatantly partisan, and it is anything but professional and independent. It muzzles all divergent and dissenting viewpoints, which are the very essence of an open democracy. Its meetings are a farce to be reckoned with. Its treatment of the West Bengal CM today, although typical of the NITI Aayog, is unacceptable," he added.
After leaving the Niti Aayog meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi midway, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the Centre of "insulting Bengal" by interrupting her speech after five minutes, adding that it was a deliberate attempt to "malign the opposition."
Accusing the Center of favoring BJP-ruled states by providing them privileges and packages, Banerjee said, "I said whatever I could in the 3 to 4 minutes that I got. In the entire country, the way in which all the opposition-ruled states have been neglected while BJP-ruled states and their alliance members have been favored, we don't have any objection if any state is given more money, but this is not acceptable that someone will get and someone will not get at all."
The Chief Minister defended her decision to boycott the meeting, stating that she should have been given extra time as she was representing the entire opposition.
"I was the only one from the Opposition-ruled states who had gone there. They should have given me 30 minutes... At the beginning of the meeting, Rajnath Singh said that everyone should present their views in 5-7 minutes, but I was not even given 7 minutes to speak. Their people were given 20 minutes, they got special packages and privileges, but others got zero minutes. I did the right thing by boycotting the meeting. I will not let them insult Bengal. I stand strongly with the Opposition parties running the government in other states," Banerjee said.
However, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman rejected Banerjee's claim that her microphone was switched off while she was speaking at the NITI Aayog meeting and said that every chief minister was "allotted due time to speak."
While speaking to reporters, the West Bengal Chief Minister alleged "political discrimination" and said that at the NITI Aayog meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, she was not allowed to speak for more than five minutes while other chief ministers were given more time.
"CM Mamata Banerjee attended the Niti Aayog meeting. We all heard her. Every CM was given the allotted time, and that was displayed on the screen, which was present before every table. We could see that two tables had a screen before us. She said in the media that her mic was turned off. That is completely false. Every CM was given their due time to speak," the Finance Minister told ANI.
Sitharaman said that it is "unfortunate" that the West Bengal CM is making such claims, adding that the government is happy that the West Bengal Chief Minister attended the meeting and said that she is speaking on behalf of the opposition, i.e., the INDIA bloc.
"It's unfortunate that the chief minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, has claimed that her mic was switched off, which is not true, and it is unfortunate because we're happy that she participated in this meeting. She put forth her case, spoke for West Bengal and, as she said, spoke for all the opposition. But even as she was doing it, we were hearing, as per the procedure," she said.