Kolkata: The tracks may be ready for new Metro rides in Kolkata, but the political rails between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee remain firmly apart.

On Friday, Modi will inaugurate three new Metro routes and a subway at Howrah station from a grand programme in Dum Dum. The Railway Ministry has already showcased its numbers: a record ₹83,765 crore sanctioned for West Bengal’s railways, ₹13,955 crore allocated in this year’s budget alone, 101 stations on the way to being redeveloped, and a fleet of Vande Bharat and Amrit Bharat trains already in service.

Modi is scheduled to inaugurate the Sealdah-Esplanade section of the Green Line, Hemanta Mukhopadhyay (Ruby Crossing)-Beleghata stretch of the Orange Line, and Noapara-Jai Hind Bimanbandar (airport) section of the Yellow Line. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, in a letter dated August 14, invited Banerjee to the inauguration of three metro projects on Friday.   

However, Mamata Banerjee will not be there to clap when the PM presses the button. Sources at Nabanna say the Chief Minister has chosen to boycott the event, skipping the dais to “protest” against what she calls the BJP’s harassment of Bengali-speaking workers in saffron-ruled states and the Centre’s “step-motherly” treatment towards Bengal in releasing funds.

“Many of these railway projects were originally conceived and sanctioned when Mamata Banerjee was the railway minister. After years of delay, the BJP is now rushing to inaugurate them ahead of elections to project it as their achievement,” an official source claimed.

The source added that the Chief Minister had earlier attended central government events in deference to constitutional protocol.

“However, on several occasions, BJP supporters disrupted such programmes and turned official functions into political rallies. In light of that experience, the Chief Minister is unwilling to allow a repeat of such conduct,” the official said.

With Banerjee’s party amplifying slogans of ‘Bengali asmita’, Banerjee has accused the BJP of unleashing “terrorism on the Bengali language.” Sharing the stage with Modi, her camp argues, would dilute that political message.

The Railway Ministry insists it followed protocol by inviting the state’s Chief Minister, but protocol is one track — politics another. And in Kolkata, while new trains may run parallel, Modi and Mamata continue on intersecting courses that never quite meet.