West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday expressed strong disapproval after a NITI Aayog map showed Bihar in place of West Bengal in one of its summary reports.
Condemning the error, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) wrote to the vice chairperson of NITI Aayog and demanded apology from the government's public policy think tank.
"I am writing with deep concern and unequivocal disapproval that in the 'summary report for the state of West Bengal' published by NITI Aayog and available on its website, the map intended to represent the state of West Bengal has depicted the territory of Bihar in its place," she wrote to NITI Aayog vice chairperson Suman K Bery.
Describing the error as a 'grave lapse' on part of NITI Aayog, Mamata Banerjee claimed that such a blunder in an official publication of the think tank reflects an "alarming lack of diligence and respect" towards the states.
"The government of West Bengal strongly condemns this inaccuracy and calls upon NITI Aayog to issue a clarification and apology and take immediate corrective action to rectify the document and to institute robust mechanisms to prevent such lapses in future," she said.
"Such a grave lapse in an official document of a premier national institution is not merely a technical error but an affront to the identity and dignity of the state of West Bengal," the Bengal CM wrote in the letter addressed to Bery.
Mamata even raised concerns about the reliability of the institution's work. "This raises legitimate concerns about the rigor and reliability of the institutions work, which policymakers and citizens alike depend upon for accurate and informed decision making and casts significant doubt on the quality, authenticity and credibility of reports and publications of NITI Aayog," she added.
Earlier in the day, TMC Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale too shared a screenshot of the map on X (formerly Twitter) in which Bihar was shown as West Bengal. "Modi Govt's latest insult of Bengal. It is PATHETIC that the Govt of India cannot even place West Bengal on a map. BJP has 12 MPs from Bengal including 2 Union Ministers. And yet, their govt shamelessly shows Bihar as Bengal on a map," he wrote.
This isn't the first time NITI Aayog has drawn criticism. Earlier in 2020, the government think tank had come under fire for allegedly relying too heavily on assumptions during its Covid-19 response planning.
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