Saturday, 07 June 2025
Saturday, 07 June 2025
Narendra Modi on Friday inaugurated the world’s tallest railway bridge over the Chenab river in Jammu and Kashmir, calling it the fulfilment of “a long-cherished dream” and asserting that the all-weather rail link now makes the idea of “Kashmir to Kanyakumari” a railway reality.
The BJP on Friday slammed the Congress for "spreading half truth" about the Kashmir rail link project, and said the Modi government finished what it started, unlike the Opposition party which only made announcements and forgot to fulfil them during its term.
This came after Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Railway Line (USBRL) is a powerful example of continuity in governance which it claimed is "consistently denied" by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his "perennial desire for self-glory".
Reacting sharply to the Congress leader's remark that came ahead of Prime Minister Modi inaugurating the world's tallest railway bridge over Chenab river, BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari wrote on X, "Mr Jairam Ramesh ji, stop spreading half truths." Fact is that the Chenab Bridge project was declared a national project by the NDA government in 2002, ensuring 100 per cent central funding.
It was approved in 2003 to provide all-weather connectivity to the Kashmir Valley, he added.
"After 2004, the Congress didn't move an inch on it. Like many other projects, it was left to gather dust," Bhandari said.
"Then came PM Narendra Modiji's govt - which didn't just revive it under the PRAGATI initiative, but personally monitored every milestone and ensured the world's highest rail bridge is completed in record time," he said.
"Under PM Modi, we don't just lay foundation stones, we finish what we start. Unlike Congress, which announces and forgets, we deliver and transform," the BJP spokesperson added.
The Chenab Bridge, part of the larger Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Railway Line (USBRL) project, stands as the highest railway arch bridge in the world. Along with the Anji Bridge — India’s first cable-stayed railway bridge — and the newly launched Vande Bharat Express between Jammu and Srinagar, the infrastructural milestones mark what the government has called a new era of connectivity in Jammu and Kashmir.
“This isn’t just a bridge,” Modi said during the inauguration ceremony, flanked by Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha, former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, and Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. “It is a symbol of India’s resolve. The people of Jammu and Kashmir waited for decades, and today, that promise has been fulfilled.”
The USBRL, a 272-km line built at a cost of ₹43,780 crore, had remained incomplete for years due to the complex Himalayan terrain. But the Modi government has pointed to the revival and expedited completion of the project as part of its PRAGATI initiative — aimed at fast-tracking infrastructure development.
The prime minister also flagged off the Vande Bharat Express, which will reduce travel time between Jammu and Srinagar to under three hours. He announced an additional ₹46,000 crore investment in the region, tying the new infrastructure to a broader vision of economic upliftment through enhanced trade, tourism, and industry.
Yet, the moment was not without political ripples.
Earlier in the day, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh described the USBRL as a “powerful example of continuity in governance,” taking aim at what he called Modi’s “perennial desire for self-glory.” In a statement, Ramesh argued that the prime minister routinely denies the cumulative nature of public infrastructure projects that span administrations. “Governance involves great continuity, a fact he consistently denies,” he said.
For the residents of Jammu and Kashmir, however, the significance may lie less in the political ownership and more in the practical outcomes: shorter commutes, increased access to markets, and a long-overdue sense of integration with the rest of the country.
