Metro Rail projects ride into political row

The Union government’s rejection of the Metro Rail projects for Coimbatore and Madurai has provided the ground for yet another fierce political battle between the ruling DMK-led front and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the ruling party at the Centre.

Citing one of the norms stipulated in the 2017 Metro Rail Policy — that a city must have a population of at least 2 million to qualify for a mass transit system such as Metro Rail — the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, in its November 14, 2025 communication to the Tamil Nadu government, referred to 2011 Census data showing Coimbatore’s population at 1.58 million and Madurai’s at 1.5 million as the basis for its decision. Returning detailed project reports for the two cities, the Ministry stated that “the Metro projects are cost-intensive and should be planned carefully for long-term sustainability.” It suggested other cost-effective urban transport systems, including the Bus Rapid Transit System.

The State government had followed the Union Ministry’s guidelines while commissioning feasibility studies for the Mass Rapid Transit System in Coimbatore, Madurai, and three other tier-II cities in Tamil Nadu. Detailed project reports were eventually prepared by Chennai Metro Rail Limited for Madurai and Coimbatore and sent to the Centre, with a recommendation that the project cost be met under a 50:50 equity sharing basis. While completely elevated, two corridors have been proposed for nearly 35 kilometre in the case of Coimbatore; the other city is to have an elevated corridor of 26.5 km and an underground corridor of 5.5 km. Each project was estimated to cost around ₹11,000 crore.

Wide outrage

When the communication became public on November 18, 2025, it triggered loud protests from the ruling party and its allies. It was left to the BJP and its ally, Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar), to defend the move of the Union government, which was said to have come after 21 months. Late evening on Tuesday (November 18, 2025), the DMK’s information technology wing, on X, complained of the Centre’s discrimination against Tamil Nadu vis-à-vis a couple of cities in north India, for which the approval had been given in the past despite “not fulfilling” the norm of a 2-million population.

Senior BJP leader and legislator of Coimbatore (south), Vanathi Srinivasan, rejected the charge of bias against the State and contended that under the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance’s reign at the Centre, the State had “received ₹1.5 lakh crore in rail funds, hardly the sign of any anti-Tamil Nadu agenda.” She added that the State could resubmit the project proposal, “using urban agglomeration data , or give special justification — just as Agra Metro was approved for tourism. Similar precedents exist for Bhopal and Patna.” The TMC(M)’s chief and former Union Minister G.K. Vasan expressed hope that the projects would take off in the future.

On Wednesday morning (November 19, 2025), Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, in a post on X, accused the BJP-led government of using “flimsy grounds” to deny the Metro Rail projects for the “Temple City” Madurai and “South India’s Manchester” Coimbatore. The BJP’s ally in the State, the AIADMK, known for its strong base in Coimbatore and other western districts of the State, chose not to join the debate directly. However, its general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami, in a representation submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was coincidentally in Coimbatore on Wednesday (November 19, 2025) to attend a farmers’ meet, appealed to the Centre to expedite the implementation of the Metro Rail projects. The AIADMK’s IT wing reposted a statement issued by the BJP’s State unit. The national party had explained that the Centre had “returned” the metro proposals, asking for basic clarifications. A similar process was followed for metro extension projects in Bengaluru, in addition to Agra and Patna, the BJP added.

Even though the DMK and BJP find fault with each other over the present fate of the project proposals, they, however, sound optimistic about making the projects a reality. It remains to be seen how they are going to accomplish it, but what is certain is that the Coimbatore and Madurai Metro Rail projects will get featured in election manifestos of all major parties when Tamil Nadu goes to the polls in April–May.