As many as 10 states and Union Territories (UTs) did not participate in the ninth Governing Council meeting of the NITI Aayog, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, NITI Aayog CEO B.V.R. Subrahmanyam said on Saturday. The meeting was attended by 26 participants, including Chief Ministers and Lieutenant Governors of UTs. The absentees were Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, Bihar, Delhi, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Puducherry.
According to news agency PTI, Subrahmanyam remarked, “It is their loss if they did not participate.”
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee walked out of the meeting after her request to speak before lunch was accepted, despite her scheduled turn being in the afternoon. “The chief minister of West Bengal had made a request to be given a turn before lunchtime. I’m just putting facts on the ground, no interpretations. It was a very clear request from their side because normally we would have gone alphabetically. So it begins with Andhra Pradesh, then Arunachal Pradesh…We actually adjusted and the Defence Minister actually called her in just before Gujarat. So she made her statement. Every chief minister is allotted seven minutes and there’s just a clock on top of the screen which tells you the time that is remaining. So it goes from seven to six to five to four to three. At the end of that, it shows zero. Zero. Nothing else. Nothing else has happened other than that,” he remarked.
Subrahmanyam explained, “When her time was up, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh just tapped the mic. Then she said look, I would have liked to speak for more time, but I’ll not speak anymore. That was it. There was nothing more. We all heard. She made her points and we respectfully heard and noted points, which will be reflected in a minute. However, officials from the West Bengal government continued to attend the meeting.”
#WATCH | After the NITI Aayog meeting, CEO B.V.R. Subrahmanyam says, “…We had 10 absentees and 26 participants. We had absentees from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, Bihar, Delhi, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand and Puducherry. The chief minister of West Bengal… pic.twitter.com/dedCuQOHca
— ANI (@ANI) July 27, 2024
Regarding Bihar, Subrahmanyam noted that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar could not attend due to an assembly session in the state.
Prime Minister Modi’s address emphasised the need for states to compete for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to ensure investments reach all states, especially those less successful. The meeting also discussed demographic management and the concept of zero poverty. “The Prime Minister wants the states to spend more on districts so that they can become drivers of growth,” Subrahmanyam added. as quoted by PTI. Modi also appreciated the idea of ‘zero poverty’ proposed by some states, suggesting villages could be declared ‘zero poverty villages’ after assessment.
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Congress Backs Mamata Banerjee, Calls NITI Aayog ‘Blatantly Partisan’
The Congress party criticised the treatment of Mamata Banerjee at the NITI Aayog meeting, alleging that the government think-tank has been “blatantly partisan” in its functioning, stifling dissenting viewpoints. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh stated, “Since it was established ten years ago, NITI Aayog has functioned as a drumbeater for the non-biological PM. It has not advanced the cause of cooperative federalism in any manner.”
Ramesh further alleged that NITI Aayog’s meetings are “a farce” and its treatment of Banerjee was “unacceptable.” He expressed solidarity with Banerjee, while the Congress’ West Bengal unit chief, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, wrote to President Droupadi Murmu, alleging anarchic conditions in West Bengal and seeking her intervention to restore law and order in the state.
Ramesh also criticised the Prime Minister’s address at the NITI Aayog meeting, saying, “The non-biological PM has woken up to the realisation that India needs policies conducive to international investments, i.e., FDI. For ten long years, he has encouraged FDI – Fear, Deceit, and Intimidation.” He suggested that India needs to boost Domestic Investment (DI), which marked the Manmohan Singh decade, to attract FDI.
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. Its functioning has been blatantly partisan, and it is…
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) July 27, 2024
The NITI Aayog council includes all state chief ministers, lieutenant governors of Union Territories, and several Union ministers. Chief ministers from the INDIA bloc, including M.K. Stalin (Tamil Nadu), Pinarayi Vijayan (Kerala), Bhagwant Mann (Punjab), Siddaramaiah (Karnataka), Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu (Himachal Pradesh), A. Revanth Reddy (Telangana), and Hemant Soren (Jharkhand), boycotted the meeting, alleging discrimination against non-NDA-ruled states in the Union Budget.
The Prime Minister’s Office and NITI Aayog have not responded to these allegations.
