Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Friday that she will be protesting against the political discrimination meted out to Bengal at the NITI Aayog meeting in Delhi on Saturday, July 27.
Before leaving for Delhi today, the All India Trinamool Congress Chairman said, "I will protest against the political discrimination being done with Bengal in the Niti Aayog meeting. In the budget, the way they have discriminated against Bengal and the other opposition states, we can't agree to that."
She further stated that the BJP ministers and leaders' attitude is such that they want to divide Bengal while also imposing economic and geographical blockades on the state.
"The attitude of their ministers and BJP leaders is such that they want to divide Bengal. Along with the economic blockade, they also want to impose a geographical blockade. The Minister said this while Parliament was in process. Different leaders are giving different statements to divide Jharkhand, Bihar, Assam, and Bengal. We strongly condemn this attitude," she said.
She further said that dividing Bengal means dividing the nation and further mentioned that she will record her voice at the meeting and if they won't let her, she will protest and leave the meeting.
"Divide Bengal means to divide our country, India. We want to record our voice in this situation, and I will be present there to do so. I will try to record my voice if they let me or else I will protest and come out," she said.
This move by the West Bengal CM came as a surprise after most Chief Ministers of opposition-led states had said that they would boycott the NITI Aayog meeting, which will be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on Saturday.
On Wednesday, Chief Minister of Punjab Bhagwant Mann and Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy said that their government will boycott the NITI Aayog in protest against the central government's alleged injustice to the state in the allocation of funds in the 2024 Union Budget.
—ANI
