In an apparent change of tack on SilverLine, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has signalled that it would not unqualifiedly oppose the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government’s bid to develop a rapid mass transit railway system for Kerala.
BJP State President K. Surendran, who called on metro rail expert E. Sreedharan at the latter’s residence in Ponnani, said the bonafide high-speed railway system proposed by the “metro man” was an efficient improvement and viable alternative to the State government’s flagship semi-high-speed K-Rail (SilverLine) project.
The high-profile visit came against the backdrop of Mr. Sreedharan asking the State government to drop SilverLine and, instead, implement a proper high-speed rail transit system that would integrate seamlessly with similar networks coming up in other regions.
Mr. Sreedharan also suggested a blend of elevated rail and underground tracks to save on land acquisition costs and to prevent largescale displacement of residents and businesses. It seemed also seemed politically expedient for the BJP not to look anti-development ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
After meeting Mr. Sreedharan, Mr. Surendran indicated that there was a change of thought at the party’s leadership level.
“Kerala’s development was paramount. The State government should strive to realise that goal,” he said.
He said Mr. Sreedharan had suggested a workable and cost-effective option to SilverLine.
He said Mr. Sreedharan did not back the LDF’s quixotic proposal, which would invariably saddle the State with insurmountable debt, displace hundreds of families, disrupt rivers’ natural drainage, and subsume large expanses of ecologically fragile wetlands and paddies.
Mr. Surendran said he had accompanied Mr. Sreedharan to meet the Union Railway Minister before the latter submitted his proposal to the State government.
He quoted Mr. Sreedharan stating that a high-speed railway would serve the economy better without taxing families who risk losing their land to big development and the State’s fragile environment.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] and the LDF were likely to politically weigh Mr. Sreedharan’s opinion before the State government took a final call.
Technical advisors to the government were also reportedly vetting Mr. Sreedharan’s pro-high-speed railway report.
The Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) was yet to respond to Mr. Sreedharan’s proposal submitted to the State government via former Congress veteran K.V. Thomas who broke ranks with his party and became Kerala’s Special Representative in New Delhi.
Notably, the Congress and the BJP were at the forefront of the anti-K-Rail that rocked Kerala in 2022. They had joined hundreds of residents who aggressively resisted laying concrete markers indicating the alignment of the rail on their private land, resulting in the registration of hundreds of police cases against residents, including women and party workers.
