New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Friday asserted that the Centre “should not teach her foreign policy,” hitting back at the remarks of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) that the subject comes under the domain of the central government.
The MEA had made the remarks in response to her statement that she would shelter people fleeing the unrest in Bangladesh. Banerjee’s remarks at the Martyr’s Day Rally that she will provide shelter to Indian nationals from Bangladesh, which is in the grip of a crisis, had prompted the Centre to say that foreign affairs come under its prerogative.
On Friday, interacting with reporters in Delhi, she asserted that the MEA should not teach her foreign policies. “I know foreign policy better than anyone else. They should not try to teach me. They should learn instead,” Banerjee said.
The TMC supremo has skipped many previous meetings of the NITI Aayog’s governing council, including in 2023 and 2019.
While Mamata has termed the Centre’s think-tank as “toothless” in the past, she went one step ahead Friday, saying it should be disbanded and the Planning Commission be brought back.
“The NITI Aayog is a powerless body that cannot help the states financially. The Planning Commission, which was a brainchild of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, should be brought back. It worked a lot for the country and the states in many areas including development of infrastructure,” she said.
There were indications that efforts were being made by the INDIA bloc to persuade Mamata to skip the meeting as she did not reach Delhi Thursday, as was originally scheduled. She, however, attributed the dilemma about her attendance to her belief that the NITI Aayog was a “powerless body”.
“There is actually no need to attend these meetings. Earlier, states had power when the Planning Commission was there. Now, there is no scope and hope. But, we believe there must be good ties between the Centre and state for development purposes,” she said, adding that it was TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee who eventually persuaded her to attend the NITI Aayog meeting.
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‘They are dividing the country’
Responding to a question on the equation of the TMC with the Congress in West Bengal, Mamata reiterated her position that the “Congress was in cahoots with the BJP and the Left Front” in the state.
“In Delhi, we are in an alliance. But can you imagine these three colours working together?” she said, signifying the TMC’s trust deficit with the principal opposition party.
Jharkhand’s Hemant Soren is the other CM from the opposition rank who is expected to attend the NITI Aayog meeting.
The meeting is set to be skipped by the CMs of Congress-ruled Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Telangana; the CPI(M)-led Kerala; and the AAP-ruled Punjab. Delhi CM and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal is in jail in the excise policy case.
Later Friday, Mamata met Sunita Kejriwal, the wife of the Delhi CM.
Speaking to reporters in Kolkata before leaving for Delhi, the TMC supremo said she would walk out of the meeting if the Centre expects her to read out a prepared and vetted speech.
Mamata said she intends to raise the issue of “discrimination” against the opposition-ruled states in the annual budget presented Tuesday.
In Delhi, the CM said she will also raise the issue of West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar’s proposal to incorporate North Bengal into the Northeast, asserting that “we will never allow the division of Bengal”.
“These people used to talk about ‘tukde tukde’. Now, they are dividing the country themselves,” she said.
This is an updated version of the report
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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