Contributor,
Shubhankar C
Advocate
Chairperson Adi Shankara Foundation
Shubhankar C
Advocate
Chairperson Adi Shankara Foundation
Bangalore’s new metro line is a victory for commuters, but the state’s political games are costing Karnataka dearly.
The city's most awaited metro line finally opened on 10th August 2025, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Years of missed deadlines, bureaucratic hurdles, and political tussles have kept this project off track, making the ribbon-cutting both a celebration and a reminder of how governance can fail the public.
The NDA-led central government has consistently rolled out schemes meant to reach citizens in every corner of India. But here in Karnataka, under a Congress-led administration, the pattern of delay and obstruction is hard to ignore. It is not mere political rivalry, it is a governance problem that hurts ordinary people.
Take the closure of Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Kendras, which offered medicines at subsidised prices. The state government justified the move by citing its own free medicine program through government hospital pharmacies. In reality, patients rarely receive their full prescription there. Often, only one or two medicines are available, forcing them to buy the rest from private pharmacies, sometimes the very ones government pharmacists recommend. This raises uncomfortable questions about who benefits from these closures, because it is certainly not the patient.
Then there is the suburban railway project, a lifeline for lakhs of daily commuters. It is a central government initiative, but the state’s slow walk in acquiring and handing over land has kept it in limbo. The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited also operated without a full-time Managing Director until relentless follow ups by MP Tejasvi Surya forced an appointment.
Even at the metro inauguration, the Chief Minister chose to focus on fund-sharing percentages instead of acknowledging the developmental significance of the day. It was a political speech on a public stage, overshadowing the very achievement being celebrated.
These are not isolated missteps; they reflect a larger attitude where political point scoring takes precedence over service delivery. For a state government struggling to pay salaries to bus drivers, talk of grand development rings hollow. Karnataka deserves better. Citizens must demand that projects be delivered on time, politics be kept out of public welfare, and governance put back on track literally and figuratively.
Politics Delayed Our Metro, Let’s Not Let It Delay Our Future
The city's most awaited metro line finally opened on 10th August 2025, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Years of missed deadlines, bureaucratic hurdles, and political tussles have kept this project off track, making the ribbon-cutting both a celebration and a reminder of how governance can fail the public.
The NDA-led central government has consistently rolled out schemes meant to reach citizens in every corner of India. But here in Karnataka, under a Congress-led administration, the pattern of delay and obstruction is hard to ignore. It is not mere political rivalry, it is a governance problem that hurts ordinary people.
Take the closure of Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Kendras, which offered medicines at subsidised prices. The state government justified the move by citing its own free medicine program through government hospital pharmacies. In reality, patients rarely receive their full prescription there. Often, only one or two medicines are available, forcing them to buy the rest from private pharmacies, sometimes the very ones government pharmacists recommend. This raises uncomfortable questions about who benefits from these closures, because it is certainly not the patient.
Then there is the suburban railway project, a lifeline for lakhs of daily commuters. It is a central government initiative, but the state’s slow walk in acquiring and handing over land has kept it in limbo. The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited also operated without a full-time Managing Director until relentless follow ups by MP Tejasvi Surya forced an appointment.
Even at the metro inauguration, the Chief Minister chose to focus on fund-sharing percentages instead of acknowledging the developmental significance of the day. It was a political speech on a public stage, overshadowing the very achievement being celebrated.
These are not isolated missteps; they reflect a larger attitude where political point scoring takes precedence over service delivery. For a state government struggling to pay salaries to bus drivers, talk of grand development rings hollow. Karnataka deserves better. Citizens must demand that projects be delivered on time, politics be kept out of public welfare, and governance put back on track literally and figuratively.
Politics Delayed Our Metro, Let’s Not Let It Delay Our Future
