By Express News Service
KOLKATA: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on Thursday described PM Narendra Modi’s meeting with chief ministers as a “super flop” event.
Banerjee also said the meeting “humiliated” the participant CMs as none of them was allowed to speak.
The Prime Minister had no option left other than fleeing away hiding his face as he had no answer in the wake of the second wave of Covid pandemic resulted by the Centre’s mismanagement, the CM alleged.
Urging all participants to protest for not being allowed to speak in Thursday’s meeting, Mamata also said the chief ministers are not Modi’s bonded labourers or puppets.
The sharp rift between the state government and the Centre surfaced at a time when the CBI arrested three TMC MLAs, including two ministers. The ruling party’s supporters described it as a fallout of BJP’s defeat in Assembly elections.
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“None of the chief ministers was allowed to speak for a second. Armed with documents, we were prepared to place our demands. All the chief ministers were sitting like puppets. We are not bonded labourers. We, the chief ministers, felt humiliated. It was a casual and super flop meeting,” Mamata lashed out.
The CM accused Modi of bypassing the federal structure. “This was not a one-way communication. It was one-way humiliation. One nation, all humiliation. Is the Prime Minister so insecure that he didn’t want to listen to the chief ministers? Why is he so scared? If he didn’t want to hear the chief ministers, why did he call us? They are bulldozing the country’s federal structure with their arrogance. What is happening is dictatorship, like martial law is going on.”
Hitting out at the Centre for not providing vaccines, oxygen and essential medicines to treat Covid patients, Mamata said, “The Centre is announcing different time gaps between the two doses. Is there any research or specific guideline? In the meeting, they (Centre) didn’t talk about vaccine, oxygen and Remdesivir. He (Modi) fled away hiding his face because he had no answer on all these issues.”
Referring to the heart wrenching scene of bodies floating on the Ganga, the CM said how many central teams were sent to BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh and Bihar after it was found that bodies of Covid patients were floating on the river.
Mamata, had on Thursday, written to Modi requesting him to provide 20 lakh vaccines for the both state government and central government employees.
