JOIN USIndia should have four capitals on rotational basis, Kolkata must be one of them: CM Mamata Banerjee
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said that there should be four national capitals in the country, each located in the southern, northern, eastern and northeastern part of the country.
Addressing the people at a government program in Kolkata on the occasion of 125th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, she also said that Kolkata should be made one of the capitals of the country.
“I am telling the Centre there should be four capitals of India. One in the south, one in the north, one in the east and one in the northeastern part of the country. Kolkata should be made one of the capitals,” said Mamata.
She also said that the Parliament session should be held one by one in each of the four capitals.
“Why should there be only one capital? I think there should be four capitals in the country and the Parliament session should be held in each of them one by one,” said Mamata.
The Chief Minister asked why should the Parliament session be held only in Delhi. She also said that most of the people in Delhi were outsiders.
“Why should it be limited to one place? What is there in Delhi? Most are outsiders in Delhi. The people of Delhi are very nice and accept all of us. I congratulate the Delhi Government. They are also not allowed to work independently,” said Mamata.
The Chief Minister crticised the Centre for not declaring Netaji’s birthday as a national holiday. She said that the Centre had to do kit “today or tomorrow.”
Pointing out that the Planning Commission was the “brainchild” of Netaji, the Chief Minister lashed out at the Centre for disbanding it and setting up the NITI Aayog.
“NITI Aayog could have been set up while retaining the Planning Commission. I still remember attending the Planning Commission meeting with my officers. We used to raise the demands of the states at the meeting,” said Mamata.
“These days the Centre doesn’t bother to speak to the state. The federal set up has been destroyed. The Planning Commission should be brought back,” she added.
She also questioned the Centre’s decision of naming Netaji’s birthday as “Parakram Divas” and wondered what it exactly means. The Chief Minister said that the Centre was spending crore of rupees to build a new Parliament building and buy planes adding that it was not immediately needed.
“Why not build an Azad Hind Bahini monument instead?” asked Mamata.