Pitch a tent, get a flat! Netizens mock Karnataka government’s Kogilu rehabilitation drive | Bengaluru News
BENGALURU: The govt’s much-touted “humanitarian” decision to rehabilitate those who were removed from encroachments at Kogilu in Bengaluru, by allotting govt flats worth Rs 11.2 lakh, unleashed a form of creative online protest as netizens responded with sarcasm, satire, and AI-generated tents.Soon after the govt justified its rehabilitation measures, social media turned into a virtual camping ground. Armed with AI tools and a healthy dose of sarcasm, Bengalureans began “pitching” tents at some of the city’s most prized public spaces, confidently claiming ownership and demanding equal treatment. The digital protest, wrapped in humour and outrage, was tied together with the hashtag #MyTentsMyRight.
AI-generated images of tents mushroomed outside iconic landmarks such as Vidhana Soudha, Lalbagh Botanical Garden, and Chinnaswamy Stadium, as users questioned the logic of rewarding illegal encroachments on public land. The argument from the online crowd was straightforward: if tents illegally pitched on govt land can eventually translate into free flats on humanitarian grounds, then surely everyone else deserves a shot too.One netizen set up an AI tent near Bellandur Lake in the tech corridor and issued a legal-sounding ultimatum: “If you don’t give me this, I will go to court.”Another user went straight to the top, placing a tent right outside Vidhana Soudha and posting: “Waiting to be relocated for free under the Rajiv Gandhi Housing Scheme by Karnataka govt to a good apartment in Bangalore after my illegally put up tent is demolished in front of Vidhana Soudha (sic).”Behind the humour lay simmering anger. Many users questioned why taxpayers who follow rules, pay EMIs, and navigate complex housing regulations are left watching from the sidelines while illegal encroachments are retrospectively rewarded — allegedly following political pressure, including from the neighbouring state of Kerala. Scenic public assets were suddenly rebranded as “potential housing sites”, with proud “tent owners” demanding that their temporary nylon estates be acknowledged as legitimate claims.The trend didn’t stop at Bengaluru’s borders. AI tents also appeared outside the Mysuru palace and the Kalaburagi Mini Vidhana Soudha, suggesting that the “tent-to-flat” model could soon go statewideWhat’s the Kogilu controversy?What began as a routine encroachment eviction drive by the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) to reclaim govt land at Kogilu, near Yelahanka in north Bengaluru, snowballed into a major political controversy with poll-bound Kerala politicians accusing the Karnataka govt of executing “anti-minority politics” and “brutal normalisation of bulldozer raj”. The drive, carried out on Dec 20, involved the demolition of around 400 unauthorised houses built in recent years on land belonging to the civic body. The Siddaramaiah govt responded by stating that the displaced families would be allotted flats in the city.
