The Trinamul Congress on Tuesday expressed displeasure over Mamata Banerjee not being included as a speaker in the second leg of Narendra Modi’s meeting with chief ministers on Covid-19 on Wednesday and the party pitched it as yet another instance of the Centre’s allegedly step-motherly treatment of Bengal.
A senior Bengal government official said the state had come to know on Monday that it was not on the list of speakers.
“Initially, we were informed that we would be allowed to speak…. But we came to know on Monday evening that we were not on the list. The chief minister might not attend the meeting,” he said.
Mamata is scheduled to hold a meeting with doctors’ associations at Nabanna at 3pm on Wednesday, the same time when Modi’s video conference will happen.
In the absence of Mamata, state chief secretary Rajiva Sinha or home secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay might represent the state.
On Tuesday, 21 states and Union territories attended the first leg of the videoconference with Modi and seven states were allowed to speak. “All 36 chief ministers were supposed to speak over two days. But suddenly, the list was reduced to 13,” said the official.
Senior Trinamul leaders took to social and mainstream media to slam the Centre after it became clearer that Mamata was unlikely to make the cut on Wednesday, though Bengal had done better compared to other big states in handling Covid-19 despite being wrecked by Cyclone Amphan.
“The Centre owes the people of Bengal an explanation. The state is in the grip of an unprecedented crisis because of the pandemic and the cyclone. Why would you ask our chief minister to attend your meeting and not let her speak? Is it because you fear her straightforwardness and ability to fearlessly speak the truth?” asked urban development minister Firhad Hakim.
“This is a state that did outstandingly well in handling the pandemic. It has suffered damages of over Rs 1 lakh crore from Amphan, for which the Centre has given Rs 1,000 crore so far. The Centre owes the state over Rs 53,000 crore in dues,” he added.
Former Union railway minister Dinesh Trivedi tweeted: “It seems the Centre’s so worried about exposing itself to @MamataOfficial’s constructive criticism on #COVID response that our hon’ble CM’s been reduced to just a mute spectator for the latest round of VCs with the PM. People of Bengal won’t forgive this!”
Sources in Trinamul claimed the Centre had no plan to include any “anti-BJP” chief minister in the list of speakers other than the Congress’s Amarinder Singh in Punjab and the Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray in Maharashtra.
“The Captain (Singh) usually isn’t belligerent and Thackeray, given the extent of the outbreak in his state, is unlikely to be aggressive at the meeting…. KCR (Telangana chief minister and TRS chief K. Chandrashekar Rao) is a friend of the BJP,” said a Trinamul MP.
“It is simple, she (Mamata) exposes the BJP-led Centre for its hypocrisies and malicious practices, calling it out even at such meetings. That’s why Modi and his party don’t want to let her speak,” said a Trinamul MP, referring to a similar exercise by Modi on May 11, where the Trinamul chief had openly told the Prime Minister that some of his colleagues were playing politics with Bengal and even named Union home minister Amit Shah who was seated behind Modi.
Mamata had attended a similar meeting for three hours on April 27, expecting that she would be allowed to speak though Bengal was not on the list of speakers. She had publicly expressed her displeasure then also for being denied the opportunity to speak.
The CPM and the Congress also called “unfortunate” the exclusion of Bengal from the list of speakers on Wednesday.
“We do have many questions about Bengal’s Covid-19 response. But the Centre’s refusal to hear out the state conveys only one message, that Delhi does not care about Bengal,” said Left legislature party leader Sujan Chakraborty.
Congress state chief Somen Mitra said: “In the absence of consensus on the speakers, this process is becoming an exercise in futility.”
