A furious Mamata Banerjee on Thursday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi accusing him of “insulting” the Chief Ministers and treating them as “puppets”.
She complained that though the Chief Ministers were invited in a meeting featuring the Prime Minister and District Magistrates, they were not allowed to speak.
Curiously Mamata used “we” and “us” words instead of usual “me” and “I” while describing what she called a collective “insult of the Chief Ministers.”
“Why were we invited in the meeting if he was not prepared to listen to our problems… are the Chief Ministers puppets in his hand … are we bonded labourers…” she said, adding, “I have not seen such arrogance and ballooning ego before.”
Taking up the cudgel for her counterparts in other States — that many critics called a result of her increased confidence post the startling victory in Bengal elections — Mamata said, “We feel insulted and humiliated. This is an attempt to bulldoze the federal structure of the country. Why is the PM feeling so insecure — that he does not even want to listen to us?”
Attacking the Prime Minister for handling the pandemic scenario in cavalier manner which had led to the spike in the number of cases, Mamata said, “This was a casual and super flop meeting. Only CMs of BJP-ruled States were allowed to speak and others were made to watch like puppets… it seems that the meeting was called only for some media publicity to show that yes they are working.”
“Like me all the Chief Ministers were ready with their documents and data and were willing to discuss their problems but they were not allowed to speak… if this was to be done then where was the need calling this meeting,” she said.