Kolkata (West Bengal): Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a visit to West Bengal on Saturday. He flagged off the country’s first Vande Bharat sleeper train. According to reports, PM Modi will also attend a government event and address a rally.
The PM’s visit comes amid the ongoing political turmoil surrounding the Voter List Revision (SIR) and the recent ED raids on a consultancy firm, I-PAC. The Prime Minister will reportedly address a rally in the minority-dominated Malda area in the afternoon. This is Prime Minister Modi’s second visit to the state amid the ongoing SIR campaign and his first since the political uproar sparked by the ED’s search of the I-PAC office on January 8. During this raid, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had attacked the site of the raid and accused the agency of trying to steal the TMC’s election strategy at the behest of the BJP.
A senior BJP leader said the Prime Minister will arrive in Malda on Saturday afternoon. He will first attend a government program and then address a public rally at a nearby ground. He will then travel to Assam. On Sunday, he will return to Bengal, this time to Singur in Hooghly. The Prime Minister’s visit comes amid a heated controversy surrounding the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists. The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) has accused the BJP and the Election Commission of harassing people through this exercise and claimed that voters will respond to this “trouble” at the ballot box. However, the BJP has defended the move, saying that the SIR is necessary to remove illegal immigrants and Rohingyas from the voter list, and has alleged that the TMC’s opposition stems from a fear of losing a large “illegal” vote bank.
According to current information, PM Modi will arrive in Malda on Saturday, January 17th, at around 12:45 pm and flag off India’s first Vande Bharat Sleeper train between Howrah and Guwahati (Kamakhya) from Malda Town Railway Station. This first fully AC Vande Bharat Sleeper train is expected to reduce travel time on the Howrah-Guwahati route by approximately 2.5 hours, boosting long-distance travel, tourism, and religious pilgrimage. At around 1:45 pm, the PM will dedicate to the nation and lay the foundation stone for several rail and road infrastructure projects worth over ₹3,250 crore at a public function in Malda.
These include laying the foundation stone for four major railway projects: the Balurghat-Hili new rail line, next-generation freight maintenance facilities in New Jalpaiguri, the upgrade of the Siliguri loco shed, and the modernization of Vande Bharat maintenance facilities in Jalpaiguri district. He will also dedicate the electrification of the New Cooch Behar-Bamanhat and New Cooch Behar-Boksirhat rail sections. Modi will also flag off four Amrit Bharat Express trains connecting New Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar to major cities like Nagercoil, Tiruchirappalli, Bengaluru, and Mumbai. He will also launch two LHB coach trains from Radhikapur and Balurghat to Bengaluru. He will also lay the foundation stone for the four-laning of the Dhupguri-Falakata section of the National Highway (NH-31D). On January 18, the PM will visit Singur in Hooghly district, where he will inaugurate, lay the foundation stone, and flag off development projects worth approximately ₹830 crore. He will later address a public rally. Elections for the 294-member West Bengal Assembly are due in the next few months.
