Prime Minister Modi also flagged off a Vande Bharat train from Bengaluru to Belagavi from the KSR railway station.
Published Aug 10, 2025 | 4:20 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 10, 2025 | 5:45 PM
Narendra Modi speaking in Bengaluru.
Synopsis: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, 10 August, inaugurated the much-awaited yellow line of Bengaluru’s Namma Metro. Meanwhile, Bengaluru police placed three activists of the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) from Karnataka under house arrest, allegedly for planning a protest against suspected voter fraud
After a four-year-long wait, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, 10 August, inaugurated the much-awaited yellow line of Bengaluru’s Namma Metro, a 19-kilometre-long line from RV Road (Ragigudda) to Bommasandra, which will connect key residential, commercial, and industrial hubs across 16 stations.
The project, worth around ₹7,160 crore, is spread over 96 km and will serve a large population in one of the city’s busiest Information Technology (IT) corridors, said an official statement from the Prime Minister’s Office. Operations on the yellow line will begin from Monday, with three trains running at a frequency of 25 minutes from RV Road to Bommasandra.
Modi’s visit was packed with launching major infrastructure projects, including a Vande Bharat train from Bengaluru to Belagavi. He also laid the foundation for phase three of the Bengaluru metro project — the orange line — with 31 stations. It will span 44.65 km and will be built at an estimated cost of ₹15,611 crore.
Even as the government celebrated the infrastructure push, Bengaluru police placed three activists of the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) from Karnataka under house arrest, allegedly for planning a protest against suspected voter fraud by the Election Commission. Student leaders slammed the move, questioning the government’s fear towards protests and dissent.
NSUI Bangalore north district president Nishchay Gowda, NSUI state president Kirthi Ganesh, and NSUI Bengaluru central district president Lakshya Raj V were put under house arrest late at night on Saturday ahead of Modi’s visit.
Ganesh told South First that they were detained and kept under house arrest on the suspicion that they might protest against the misuse of powers by the Election Commission. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had earlier held a rally in Bengaluru, alleging electoral malpractices in the Bangalore Central constituency during the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
NSUI leaders told South First that they had planned a black flag protest in this regard. “It wasn’t even a final plan; we were just thinking of it,” said Raj. Three of them were released at around 1.00 pm on Sunday.
“This is unacceptable in a democracy. The right to peaceful protest is guaranteed by our Constitution, and no government or police force has the authority to pre-emptively silence voices of dissent,” Basavaraju AP, in-charge of Karnataka state NSUI, said in a statement on X.
Today, while the Prime Minister visits Bengaluru, our NSUI Karnataka office bearers have been unjustly detained and kept under house arrest simply on suspicion that we might protest against the misuse of the Election Commission.
This is unacceptable in a democracy. The right to…
— Basavaraju AP (@sribasavaraju) August 10, 2025
Prior to the event, a political battle over credit for the yellow line project heated up. Earlier, Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya had accused the Congress of delaying the project and claimed that Modi believed in “fast-tracking development.” “Congress tries to take credit for all the things in which they don’t have any role. You may have seen recently, Congress tried to take credit for even the IPL victory,” alleged Surya.
However, Karnataka Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy slammed the BJP for claiming credit for the entire metro project while sidelining the state’s contributions.
“In every phase, Karnataka has contributed as much or more than the Union government, including land acquisition and cost escalations. In Phase 1, the State gave 30 percent plus land while the Centre’s contribution was 25 percent; in Phase 2, the Union government’s share was just 20 percent, and in Phase 3, Karnataka bore land and rehabilitation costs entirely,” he said during a press conference on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar urged Modi to sanction at least ₹1 lakh crore for Bengaluru’s development. He also accused the Union government of contributing only 20 percent towards the cost of the yellow line, claiming the state government had borne the remaining 80 percent. “
“Even though Bengaluru is the country’s second-highest tax-paying city, the grants we receive are minimal,” he said while speaking to reporters before the inauguration of the yellow line on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Modi also flagged off a Vande Bharat train from Bengaluru to Belagavi on Sunday from the KSR railway station.
The new train will depart Belagavi at 5.20 am and reach KSR Bengaluru at 1.50 pm. In the return direction, it will depart from KSR Bengaluru at 2.20 pm and reach Belagavi at 10.40 pm.
Travel time will be 8.30 hours, just a little over an hour faster than the current fastest train on this route, spanning 610.6 km. The train will stop at Dharwad, Hubballi, Haveri, Davangere, Tumakuru and Yeshwantpur. It will run on all days of the week except Wednesday.
Citing heavy congestion in the KSR Bengaluru area, South Western Railway had earlier cancelled several train services. Train Nos. 66551 KSR Bengaluru–Ashokapuram, 66552 Ashokapuram–KSR Bengaluru, 66567 KSR Bengaluru–Tumakuru, 66572 Tumakuru–KSR Bengaluru, 06581 KSR Bengaluru–Channapatna, and 06582 Channapatna–KSR Bengaluru were fully cancelled.
The prime minister also virtually flagged off two more Vande Bharat Express trains between Amritsar-Sri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra and Ajni (Nagpur)-Pune.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
