PM Modi’s COVID-19 Meeting Superflop, CMs Sat Like Puppets: Mamata Banerjee

Kolkata: After skipping the previous meeting called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the COVID-19 situation, Mamata Banerjee did attend Thursday’s virtual session.

At the end of it, though, the West Bengal chief minister was bitterly disappointed.

Describing the meeting with Modi as “casual and superflop”, Mamata said the chief ministers were not given a chance to speak.

They (CMs) were made to sit like puppets, she claimed, and added that a “dictatorship” is prevailing in the country.

“The Prime Minister called a meeting and invited the chief ministers. And all the chief ministers were sitting like puppets. Nobody was allowed to speak. Then how do we speak about the public demands? We are not bonded labourers. We feel insulted and humiliated. A dictatorship is going on. The Prime Minister is feeling so insecure that he did not even listen to the chief ministers. What is this fear about?” Mamata said after the meeting.

She continued her tirade against the PM, slamming him for taking the COVID-19 situation in the country “lightly” and “evading” queries from various states on vaccines, oxygen and medicines.

Flaying the UP government for dumping bodies of suspected COVID-19 patients in the Ganga, Mamata wondered why Central teams or the CBI is not sent there to take note.

“The Centre has turned Namami Gange into Mrityupuri Gange. COVID-infected bodies are being dumped in the Ganga in UP and those are flowing into Bengal. It is polluting the water and causing damage to the environment. This is also increasing the COVID-19 infection,” she said.

“So many dead bodies are being dumped in Ganga and there is no record… Why are central teams or CBI teams not sent there to take stock of the situation? The CBI does not reach their doorstep,” Mamata quipped in an obvious reference to her home state.

Central teams were sent to parts of West Bengal where post-poll violence took place, while the CBI arrested two cabinet ministers, and MLA and an ex-Mayor on Monday morning.