P. Chidambaram. File
| Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma
Former Union Finance Minister and Rajya Sabha member P. Chidambaram on Sunday, July 28, 2024 claimed the Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre continued with its habit of suppressing and stifling the voices of Opposition parties members besides that of the State governments ruled by the Opposition.
Opposition parties were neither allowed to speak in the Parliament nor in the NITI Aayog meeting and cases booked if they spoke, Mr. Chidambaram claimed in a brief interaction with journalists at Kothamangalam village in Pudukottai district. Mr. Chidambaram was replying to a query regarding the claim made by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee that she had walked out of NITI Aayog meeting as she was stopped from speaking after just five minutes.
The incident only showed that the BJP government was bent on suppressing the Opposition parties and stifling their voice, he said. “Why can’t a Chief Minister who desires to speak for more than five minutes be allowed to speak in the NITI Aayog meeting,” he wondered.
During the Congress-led UPA regime earlier, the National Development Council and Inter-State Council meetings used to be convened. Mr. Chidamabaram said he vividly remembered as to how Mr. Narendra Modi as the Chief Minister of Gujarat then had spoken for 15 to 25 minutes at those meetings and was never interrupted or asked to stop from speaking.
What if an opposition Chief Minister were to speak for five minutes, 10 minutes or 15 minutes. The BJP government’s habit of suppressing the Opposition parties was evident from this incident which was “condemnable”, he added.
