“NITI Aayog is proposing privatisation of all public sectors”: CPI General Secretary D Raja

Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], July 27 (ANI): The Communist Party of India (CPI) General Secretary D Raja on Saturday, raised questions on the work done by the NITI Aayog and claimed that the apex public policy think tank chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has proposed the privatisation of all public sectors.

“First of all, the Prime Minister should explain why the Planning Commission was disbanded. When the BJP came to power, the first thing they did was to disband the Planning Commission. They formed the Niti Aayog. What is the work of the Niti Aayog? What policies are they going to decide? What recommendations are they going to make to the government?” D Raja told ANI.

“As far as I know, the NITI Aayog is proposing privatisation of all public sectors. That is why many Chief Ministers have raised genuine issues,” he added.

The 9th NITI Aayog’s Governing Council meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre in the national capital today.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who walked out in between the meeting alleged that her microphone was muted and she was not allowed to speak for more than five minutes at the meeting while other chief ministers were given more time.

“I said you (central government) should not discriminate against state governments. I wanted to speak but my mic was muted. I was allowed to speak only for 5 minutes. People before me spoke for 10-20 minutes,” Banerjee told reporters after she stormed out of the NITI Aayog meeting today.

The Trinamool supremo further stated that the attitude of the BJP ministers and leaders’ attitude is such that they want to divide Bengal while also imposing economic and geographical blockades on the state.

Meanwhile, DMK is staging a state-wide protest in all the district headquarters in the state against the Union Budget presented on July 23, alleging that Tamil Nadu has been “neglected” in the budget.

Earlier, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party government over the Union Budget and said that the budget seems like a “vengeful act” against the States and people who boycotted the BJP.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while presenting a Union Budget 2024-25, made major announcements for Bihar and Andhra Pradesh including a boost in infrastructure.

Notably, on Thursday, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Stalin was the first to announce his boycott of Niti Ayog’s meeting. Following this, the Congress said its chief ministers, including Himachal Pradesh’s Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, Karnataka’s Siddaramaiah and Telangana’s Revanth Reddy, would also skip the meeting.

This year’s theme of NITI Aayog’s meeting is ‘Viksit Bharat@2047’, with a central focus on making India a developed nation. The Governing Council Meeting will discuss the Approach Paper for the Vision Document on Viksit Bharat @2047.