'Bring back Planning Commission': Mamata Banerjee calls for scrapping NITI Aayog

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has called for the scrapping of NITI Ayog, the premier central government think tank.

Mamata, also the supremo of Trinamool Congress (TMC), has also called for the return of Planning Commission, the predecessor of NITI Aayog.

In 2014, after Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister of India, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government scrapped the Planning Commission and replaced it with the NITI Aayog. The idea said to be behind the move was that a new-age institution was needed to address the needs of a world with a market economy and the Planning Commission, a socialist-era institution formed in 1950, was no longer apt for the job.

‘Planning Commission had structure, worked with states’

Meanwhile, Mamata on Friday said that Planning Commission had a structure and worked in coordination with the states — unlike the NITI Aayog.

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“Remove NITI Aayog and bring back the Planning Commission. It had a structure. It built infrastructure in the country. The Planning Commission was the idea of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose,” said Mamata, as per India Today.

Mamata further said that the NITI Aayog lacks the authority and coordination with state governments that the Planning Commission used to have.

“The NITI Aayog has no powers. It doesn’t work in coordination with the state governments,” said Mamata.

Mamata is in Delhi to attend the meeting of the NITI Aayog on Saturday. Except for Mamata, all chief ministers of INDIA bloc have boycotted the meeting, according to The Wire. These leaders are Himachal Pradesh’s Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, Karnataka’s Siddaramaiah, and Telangana’s Revanth Reddy from Congress; Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin of DMK; Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann of AAP; Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan of CPI (M); Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), as per the report.

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Mamata said that she would raise the issues for all INDIA-ruled states.

“I will raise issues not only for Bengal but for all INDIA bloc-governed states. It is supposed to be cooperative federalism, but they are biased. They are conducting an economic blockade of INDIA bloc-governed states,” said Mamata, as per India Today.