Bengaluru-based start-up investor Ritesh Banglani found himself at the centre of online backlash following a sardonic social media post about the city’s flooded streets amid heavy rainfall on Tuesday.
“I’m stuck in a traffic jam in the middle of a frigging river. But hey, at least the signboards are in Kannada,” Banglani, co-founder of venture capital firm Stellaris Venture Partners, quipped alongside a photo from his car showing the inundated roads of Bengaluru.
However, his humorous take did not sit well with many users on X (formerly Twitter), who came down heavily upon him for intertwining the Kannada language debate with the city's ongoing infrastructural woes. One user, Abhishek, retorted, “Priorities, bro. Instead of protesting for poor infrastructure, some people here were protesting for the language.” Another user went further and even said that Banglani, if he is so unhappy with Kannada and people who speak the language, should “go back to your own state instead of splashing around for free in this country’s rivers and then complaining.”
Unfazed by the criticism, Banglani, however, responded with a passionate defence of his connection to the city. In a detailed post on Wednesday, he declared, “I’m as much a Bangalorean as you are and have as much right to this city as you do, including the right to criticize the administration. I can own a house here, raise my family, run a business, and vote in elections, but I guess I can never become a ‘local.’”
He further asserted, “I’m not going anywhere because this is my home as much as it’s yours.”
The heavy rains that triggered this exchange have had severe repercussions across Bengaluru, with schools closed for the second consecutive day and many residents working from home. The city experienced its most significant rainfall in nearly three decades, with parts of North Bengaluru hit the hardest. On Monday alone, the region recorded a staggering 186 mm (7.3 inches) of rain, marking the highest single-day precipitation since 1997.
As the city grapples with the impact of these downpours, conversations about its infrastructure and governance are becoming increasingly urgent.