Five minutes, seven, or full time? Why Mamata walked out of NITI Aayog meet

Mamata Banerjee, the only chief minister of an opposition-ruled state to attend the ninth governing council meeting of the NITI Aayog in Delhi on Saturday, walked out and declared before the media that she had come out "boycotting the meeting".

She went on to claim that Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu was given 20 minutes to speak, and that chief ministers of Assam, Goa and Chhattisgarh also spoke for 10-12 minutes each. She was, however, stopped from speaking after just five minutes, which was unfair, she said. She also reiterated that NITI Aayog was useless, had done nothing, and should be scrapped and the Planning Commission revived.

Responding to an X post by Congress MP and communications head Jairam Ramesh, saying the treatment meted out to Banerjee was not acceptable, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman responded with: “Jairam, you were not even present! She spoke her full time. The screen in front of our tables kept showing the time. A few other CMs spoke beyond their allotted time. On their own request, extra time was allowed without any fuss. Mikes were not switched off, not for anybody, particularly not for CM, WB.

"Mamata ji has chosen to spread falsehood. I was happy she attended. Was happier when she said she is speaking for Bengal and in fact for the entire opposition. I may agree or disagree with what she had to say. But now with her saying baseless things outside, I can only conclude that she is making an effort to keep I.N.D.I alliance happy.”

By implication, the minister suggested that Banerjee, too, could have continued to speak for a longer time, if required. Addressing the media later in the day, NITI Aayog CEO B.V.R. Subramanian clarified that each chief minister was allotted seven minutes and heard respectfully. Their suggestions were noted down and would be part of the minutes, he added.

He also claimed that nobody rang any bell, that after her allotted time was over, defence minister Rajnath Singh, who was chairing the meeting, tapped on the desk to indicate that her time was over.

Subramanian also said the West Bengal chief minister had made a written request that she be allowed to speak during the pre-lunch morning session since she had to catch a flight back to Kolkata. Ordinarily, states are called in alphabetical order and West Bengal’s turn would have come in the post-lunch session. However, she was invited to speak before Gujarat!

The CEO also said of the 36 states and Union Territories, 26 attended while there were 10 absentees. Andhra Pradesh was the only southern state to attend the meeting, and Bihar was a notable absentee because of its on-going Assembly session, he added.

The highlight of the meeting was, of course, the address by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Subramanian tactfully refrained from divulging how long the prime minister spoke, but the CEO took a lot longer than seven minutes to elaborate on what the PM said.

The unmistakable question is, whether such meetings are really useful and serve any purpose when the meeting comprises a long address by the PM, circulating approach papers to a vision document and then allowing 26 states and UTs seven minutes each to speak as they liked. Moreover, how fair or arbitrary the allotment of seven minutes each was, has not been clarified. Seven minutes for Puducherry, which was not there at the meeting, and seven minutes for Uttar Pradesh, which was, makes little sense.

The CEO’s briefing appeared to confirm the Opposition stand that since it was established 10 years ago, the NITI Aayog has “functioned as a drumbeater for the PM and has not advanced the cause of cooperative federalism… its functioning has been blatantly partisan, and it is anything but professional and independent,” as Ramesh claimed; or as Banerjee articulated on Friday about New Delhi and NITI Ayog, “The truth is, here there is no hope and no scope, hopeless and scopeless, baseless and faceless.”

The vision for a Viksit Bharat was on the agenda for the meeting and the prime minister reportedly lectured the states on the enormous goodwill that India enjoys worldwide. He spoke of his travels around the world and interactions with world leaders to drive home how keen the world is for India to do better.

India, the PM claimed, had proved that it had the capacity to set targets and achieve them in time, citing the Chandrayaan mission, the indigenously developed Covid vaccine, and the successful holding of the year-long G20 meetings and the summit last year as proof. The states had a key role to play in making India viksit by 2047, and it would not do if only a few states attracted investment from abroad. FDI must flow into every state, hence the states needed to have a vision of their own.

The prime minister seemed to be echoing the views of Banerjee, who was reported as saying, “If regional parties (states?) are strong, the nation is strong. Who fights Covid and floods and law and order issues and all such things? State governments; the Centre issues statements, the work is done by us…the Centre should only take care of external affairs, defence, internal security, and probably the economy, which in any case they have completely destroyed.”

The Opposition-ruled states do not seem to have missed much by boycotting the governing council meeting. They can read press notes posted by the PIB, listen to the PM’s address on the website, and wait for the minutes which the NITI Aayog will certainly circulate.