‘Garden city’, ‘IT capital’ and now second capital of India? The Karnataka government thinks it is possible.
In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Large and Medium Industries Minister R.V. Deshpande has sought the status of second capital of the country to Bengaluru.
Pitching the need for a capital besides New Delhi, more so in the south of India, Mr. Deshpande has, in the letter dated January 5, said the ‘tech capital’ fits the bill under various parameters, including being a ‘cosmopolitan’ city and ‘safe from natural calamities like oceanic tidal waves, earthquakes and extreme weather conditions’.
“It is also safe from attack by external forces, as it is not close to the physical borders of the country. As a cosmopolitan city, it houses people with many different languages and is probably the only city in the country where you can manage by knowing any one of the Indian languages,” Mr. Deshpande has said in the letter, adding that the city is also a hotbed for industrial development, information technology and biotechnology. He equated Bengaluru’s diversity in student population and professionals to that of New Delhi.
Seeking the establishment of a Supreme Court, the Union Public Service Commission and holding the winter session of Parliament in Bengaluru as the first steps, the Minister has said that this will help in deeper integration of southern India into the scheme of overall development, while also creating decentralised systems and decision-making given that a ‘distant administrative system’ does not do justice to the ‘rich and complex history of development and culture’ of south India.
The move to establish a second capital, Mr. Deshpande said, would help create newer opportunities in trade, cultural exchange and scientific and industrial innovation in Bengaluru while also giving ‘voice to the aspirations of millions of south Indians to feel that they are part of the national mainstream’.
