CHENNAI: Days before the inauguration of the Chennai Metro Rail phase-2 line between Poonamallee and Vadapalani by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former chief minister M K Stalin said seeing the line open for public use fills him with the satisfaction of “a mother watching her child take its first steps”.In an X post, Stalin highlighted the DMK’s role in the Chennai metro project, asserting that the party’s contribution to Tamil Nadu‘s infrastructure legacy “remains unerasable.”Stalin recalled the inauguration of Valluvar Kottam in Chennai in 1976, which former chief minister M Karunanidhi could not attend despite steering its execution. He recalled Karunanidhi’s iconic words that “The place we earn in history is not obtained through favours! It is a place that cannot be erased, no matter what happens.”Emphasising that the DMK govt spearheaded the conceptualisation and early execution of the metro network, Stalin noted that political transitions could not rewrite historical contributions.As the Poonamallee–Vadapalani stretch prepares for public operations on Oct 11, he reiterated that every major developmental milestone in Tamil Nadu “bears the unmistakable hallmark of the DMK administration, guaranteeing its place in the state’s growth narrative regardless of who presides over the ceremonial ribbon-cutting.”
