‘Unlike your smart cities, Rome was actually built’: Karnataka minister MB Patil, Piyush Goyal clash over Tumakuru 

Minister for Commerce & Industries, Infrastructure in the Government of Karnataka, MB Patil, said that the government’s vision for smart cities has been a colossal failure. He blamed the BJP for the “mismanagement” of Bengaluru, and added that the city deserves more thoughtful discussion on city-building. 

Patil was responding to Union Minister of Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal, who said great cities have always been the product of vision for the greater good and that like Rome, they were not built in one day, and neither did they stop getting built after that. 

“Rome wasn’t built in a day—but unlike your Smart City projects, Rome was actually built. Your so-called vision for Smart Cities has been a colossal failure. Tumakuru (Bengaluru-Chennai Industrial Corridor): The announcement remained just on paper, serving political interests without any land acquisition or physical progress,” said Patil. The foundation was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 1, 2023, but not a single acre of land was acquired till the Congress came to power, he said. 

“We don't just talk; we deliver. The mismanagement of Bengaluru is the legacy of the previous BJP govt, which damaged the state’s reputation. Bengaluru, a city shaped by decades of foresight and leadership, deserves more thoughtful discussion on city-building, especially from those who have yet to fulfil their own promises,” he added.

Patil asked Goyal why Bengaluru was excluded from the list of 12 industrial smart cities, why the state was not given a defence corridor despite contributing 63 per cent to India’s aerospace and defence output, why semiconductor companies expressing interest in Bengaluru redirected to other states, and why there was bias on the allocation of funds to the state. 

In what had turned out to become a public argument, Patil’s response was to Goyal blaming the Congress government for letting the people of Karnataka down. “Our government is working tirelessly to provide modern facilities, good social infrastructure and generate an ecosystem to promote industrialisation, invite investments & provide jobs for the youth of India. Silicon Valley in Bengaluru is suffering from the apathy of the state government to provide logistics support, quality infrastructure, good roads whereas the central government continues to support the state even in developing an industrial township in Tumakuru under the Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor,” he said. 

Goyal suggested Patil should try to turn Tumakuru industrial township into Silicon Valley “rather than deriding India’s progress”.  “Tumakuru township has been left into a limbo by a state government which does not even resolve their land issues,” said Goyal. 

The argument between the ministers was triggered by Goyal’s comment on how India should aspire to create its own Silicon Valley. “We should aspire to go beyond. We should aspire to have our own Silicon Valley… I know Bengaluru is the Silicon Valley of India, but it's time we started thinking about tying up with NICDC and creating a whole new township dedicated to entrepreneurs, startups, innovators, and disruptors,” he had said, which prompted Patil’s response: ““Our Own?” Bengaluru is in India. India is our country. Bengaluru wasn’t built in a day, it took decades, centuries to build Bengaluru. You can build structures, roads, and infrastructure. An ecosystem takes decades to build. Bengaluru is the hub of Indias, knowledge ecosystem.” He urged Goyal to use his offices to “further our own “Namma Bengaluru” as a global city”.