is unsubstantiated. But, setting that aside for a moment, anyone with common sense can understand that the work of Pourakarmikas is among the most oppressive forms of labour, marked by contractualisation, wage theft, absence of adequate safety equipment, and most importantly, the social degradation produced by Brahminical dominance. This is evident from the fact that 86.3% of sanitation workers belong to Dalit communities. The question of job permanency for Pourakarmikas entered public discourse only after decades of sustained struggle.
The person who made this statement was none other than Mr. Krishna Byre Gowda, a wealthy Vokkaliga politician who became the minister overseeing the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) following D. K. Shivakumar’s assumption of power. Recently, under his leadership, the GBA undertook the ‘Safe Footpath’ campaign, under which thousands of street vendors were evicted and deprived of their livelihoods in clear violation of the Street Vendors Act, 2014, and the Gainda Ram & Ors. v. MCD judgement of 2010. Their hardships and dissent were subsequently whitewashed through state-backed propaganda.
Prior to this, the GBA was also involved in the Kogilu Layout slum demolition, where around 150 Muslim families were evicted. When homeless residents sought to meet Byre Gowda, he refused to hear them. Yet we repeatedly see him meeting and hearing the concerns of affluent Savarna residents. To this can be added the GBA banning meat sales during Hindu festivals and the regular permission given to Sangh Parivar groups to conduct religious events with no restriction. Thus, his role as a GBA minister is a betrayal to the Alpasankhyataru (Minorities), Hindulidavaru (Backward Classes), and Dalitaru (Dalits) whose support was central to the Congress’s 2023 electoral victory.
But all these atrocities and statements ought not to be attributed to an individual alone. Rather, we should understand the apparatus that enables such actions, in this case the GBA. To understand this in context, a look into history is necessary to trace its exploitative roots.
In regions such as India during the colonial period, cities were viewed as strategic centres that would link and facilitate the transportation of materials extracted through the plunder of villages to the colonisers, while simultaneously serving as markets for the dumping of industrial goods produced there. The bureaucratic apparatus governing these cities was structured around this objective. At its core, it was designed to facilitate capitalist extraction and exploitation in various forms. Although the British formally left India, the bureaucratic methods and institutions they left behind for the new Indian ruling class continue to oppress the lives of millions to this day.
Borrowing from this historical perspective, we can see that, 1989 onwards, with the growing demands of the global market and the liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation reforms gripping the Indian economy, urban expansion accelerated. The then Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BMP) increased to 100 wards by 1995, and by 2007, another 110 villages were brought under its jurisdiction to form the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). Now, with the formation of the GBA, we see another restructuring of the urban administrative apparatus. In each of these instances, such expansion has facilitated the conversion of agricultural land into urban land, making it increasingly accessible to corporate acquisition. At the same time, the rising price of land contributes to bolstering the real estate market, thereby benefiting both local and foreign elites.
The GBA, which came into existence in 2025, claims to promote greater decentralisation by dividing the BBMP’s earlier centralised structure among five different corporations. However, this too stands on top of the unconstitutional emasculation of local bodies, which is a clear violation of the 74th Constitutional Amendment. Such a restructuring also makes it easier to push through projects such as long- and short-distance tunnel roads, double-decker flyovers, nine elevated corridors, and the Peripheral Ring Road, with the combined expenditure potentially amounting to ₹1 lakh crore. These projects do not benefit the majority of the common masses. They are also built without adequate Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) and Detailed Project Reports (DPRs), which are often faulty.
Lastly, if we expand our purview beyond the GBA and look at the brutal land acquisitions taking place in Bidadi, Anekal, Hesaraghatta and elsewhere for the proposed AI, Swift and Quantum Cities, a larger picture begins to emerge; that of a broader corporate ploy playing out across Bengaluru. It is within this framework that the GBA’s anti-people role and ministerial arrogance begin to make sense. What we are witnessing is the transformation of Bengaluru into a corporate dystopia, one where the domestic and foreign MNCs form the monarchy, and the marginalised are mere disposable slaves.
