PM Narendra Modi inaugurates three metro lines in the Kolkata metropolitan area on Friday (August 22).
| Photo Credit: DEBASISH BHADURI
Kolkata
Political parties in West Bengal are competing to take credit for the Kolkata metro line expansion as Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday (August 22, 2025) inaugurated three metro links, which will boost connectivity in the capital city.
Right before the inauguration program, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee posted on her social media handle on X and said, “allow me to be a little nostalgic today” and that she was fortunate to plan and sanction a series of metro lines in the Kolkata metropolitan area. “I had drawn the blueprints, arranged the funds, initiated the works and ensured that the different ends of the city (Joka, Garia, Airport, Sector V, etc.) were connected by an intra- city Metro grid,” Ms. Banerjee said.
The Chief Minister further added that as the head of the State, she facilitated the execution of the metro lines — including arrangement of land, rehabilitation of people, paving roads, and coordinated between departments to expand the infrastructure.
In a war of words, Leader of Opposition and Bharatiya Janta Party MLA Suvendu Adhikari replied to Ms. Banerjee saying, “Your nostalgia is nothing but a desperate attempt to steal credit for projects that languished under your watch. As Railways Minister in the corrupt UPA era, you may have got some blueprints sketched, but they collected dust for years.”
Mr. Adhikari also alleged that inefficiencies and non-cooperation of the TMC government had plagued the timely execution of the metro projects in Kolkata. He called the claims made by Ms. Banerjee ‘false’, and said that “Bengal deserves Modi’s vision and action.”
Meanwhile, Communist Party of India (Marxist) listed their vision and achievement in the metro’s construction in a social media post.
“The ₹4,874.58 Cr East–West Kolkata Metro corridor was a vision & achievement of the Left Front Govt. Foundation stone laid on 22 Feb 2009 by West Bengal CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee with Pranab Mukherjee, and others…,” the party said on X.
Published – August 23, 2025 04:12 am IST
