A scuffle broke out between United Democratic Front (UDF) leaders from Kerala and the Police during a protest on Thursday morning in New Delhi. The opposition leaders were protesting against Pinarayi Vijayan govt’s ambitious K-Silver Line High-Speed railway corridor project.
#WATCH | Delhi: A scuffle breaks out between police forces & Kerala’s UDF MPs while they were protesting at Vijay Chowk against Kerala’s K-Silver line project pic.twitter.com/V1Ll3HlqJJ
— ANI (@ANI) March 24, 2022
The UDF opposition leaders led by the Congress in Kerala were seen fighting with the Police after the officials stopped them outside Vijay Chowk near the Parliament. Taking out a March outside the Parliament campus, the leaders demanded that the Silver-Line corridor is not an economically viable project and hence should be scrapped. The project has been a much contentious issue in the state over the LDF government’s suspicious land acquisition activities for the project. Several environmental activists have also criticised the project saying that the corridor passes through ecologically sensitive areas.
We condemn the police action against the Congress and UDF MPs who peacefully protested against the #KRail project in parliament premises. Even a woman MP was attacked. Did @HMOIndia act on behalf of @vijayanpinarayi who is meeting @narendramodi today for the project? #MarRSSxist pic.twitter.com/JGyGOGOa7o
— Congress Kerala (@INCKerala) March 24, 2022
The development has taken place on the day when Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan is in Delhi to seek a meeting with PM Modi. KC Venugopal, senior Congress leader from Kerala who participated in the protest said that the project is anti-people. “K-Silver line project proposed by Kerala govt is anti-people. Most people are in fear of eviction. Kerala is an economically fragile state, this is not an economically viable project. Now CM (Pinarayi Vijayan) is going to meet the PM to get a sanction,” said Venugopal while talking to ANI.
We are seeking the PM to see the concern of the people of Kerala & to try to stop the CM of Kerala. There’s a feeling that CPI(M) & BJP will be together in this project & that the PM will give consent: KC Venugopal, Congress pic.twitter.com/sCFiAzorL0
— ANI (@ANI) March 24, 2022
Alleging that the BJP is in favour of the LDF-led project, Venugopal said, “We are seeking the PM to see the concern of the people of Kerala & to try to stop the CM of Kerala. There’s a feeling that CPI(M) & BJP will be together in this project & that the PM will give consent.”
Earlier yesterday, Congress workers uprooted survey stones laid for the railway corridor project in Ernakulam to oppose the project. It was reported earlier that some of these stones were laid on the road in the middle night without taking the residents into consideration. The project has caused much political churn in the state, wherein the opposition parties had also disrupted the Budget session in the Kerala Assembly and had staged a boycott to condemn the project.
The Silver Line project remains an ambitious high-speed railway project of the state government, which is expected to reduce the travel time between Kasargod and Thiruvananthapuram (north and south ends of the state) to four hours. The total length of the project is estimated to be 529.45 km while it is estimated to cost Rs 63,940 crore from the state exchequer.
