Mamata Banerjee’s walkout from the Niti Ayog meeting in Delhi on Saturday citing the alleged interruption of her speech prompted the BJP to claim that the Bengal chief minister had distorted facts to play the victim card.
“Being the only chief minister from the Opposition camp, they should have given me 30 minutes. Instead, they kept pressing the bell. Isn’t it insulting? I boycotted the session because they didn’t want to hear me out. This is an insult to the people of Bengal and I didn’t let them down,” the chief minister said at Calcutta airport.
Hours earlier, she had claimed in Delhi that her microphone was muted after five minutes and she had not been allowed to speak.
Mamata claimed that although she was not allowed to speak for more than five minutes, chief ministers of some states like Andhra Pradesh could speak for 15 to 20 minutes.
The Bengal unit of the BJP sought to refute Mamata’s claim.
“The Bengal chief minister was distorting facts to play the victim card. In New Delhi, she claimed her microphone had been switched off and on landing in Calcutta, she changed her narrative saying the bell was being pressed repeatedly to stop her from speaking. This exposes her false claims,” said Samik Bhattacharya, state BJP spokesperson.
Bhattacharya, a Rajya Sabha member, said no official would dare to mute the microphone when a chief minister was speaking.
“This is not possible. I was not in the meeting but I can say with confidence that no official in the country would dare to mute the microphone when the chief minister of a state is speaking. She should have used the platform to bring funds to the state. Unfortunately, she is doing politics there,” Bhattacharya said.
Earlier, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitaraman had said the Bengal chief minister was trying to build her narrative on falsehood.
Union tourism minister Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, who was in Calcutta, said Mamata was making wild allegations.
“Alphabetically, West Bengal comes last but as she wanted to leave early. She was accommodated as the seventh speaker. She spoke full time but she came out of the hall and made some wild allegations,” said Shekhawat.
The Trinamool Congress said it was unfortunate that the Bengal chief minister was not allowed to complete her speech at the Niti Ayog meeting.
“Cooperative federalism took a hit again today. Mamata Banerjee, a non-BJP chief minister, had to walk out of the meeting because she was not allowed to complete her speech. Her microphone was switched off. This is very unfortunate,” minister Sashi Panja said.
Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury also waded into the controversy and said it was nearly impossible to mute the microphone when a chief minister was speaking.
“Whatever our chief minister does is scripted. Is it possible that the microphone will be switched off when a chief minister is speaking? As everything is recorded in the meeting, it is not possible for anybody to hide the truth,” said Chowdhury.
