A social media post honouring the man who laid the groundwork for Bengaluru’s tech ecosystem has sparked a fresh debate on regional division online.
Vikram Pai, founder of startup ReferRush and grandson of Electronic City founder RK Baliga, strongly called out what he termed “toxic anti-North Indian propaganda” after facing polarising remarks on a post celebrating his family legacy.
The establishment of Electronic City paved the way for tech giants like Infosys and Wipro to flourish in the city and eventually led to Bengaluru’s tag as the Silicon Valley of India. “Bangalore’s toxic anti-North Indian propaganda needs to be called out. On a post celebrating my grandfather’s legacy of founding Electronic City, I get comments like this,” wrote the co-founder and CEO of ReferRush. (Also read: ‘Stop inviting more people’: Bengaluru man’s viral rant echoes exhaustion over city’s growth and migration )
The controversy began after Pai shared photos from the unveiling of a statue of his late grandfather RK Baliga, who established Electronic City in Bengaluru in 1978.
“When Electronic City was nothing but farmland, everyone told him it was a waste of time. “Today, millions of people earn their livelihoods from an idea he never lived to see fully realized,” added Pai, who is based in Bengaluru but holds US citizenship. (Also read: Bengaluru CEO with US citizenship explains why he chose India over America: ‘Money isn’t my main motivation’ ) The post quickly drew divisive comments from X users who criticised migrants in Bengaluru. One user commented that North Indians had “turned out to be [the] maximum beneficiary” of the hub while showing “zero awareness” and “only entitled behavior. Calling out the comment directly, Pai criticised what he called “Bangalore’s toxic anti-North Indian propaganda”.
But he saw what Bangalore could become long before the rest of the world did,” Vikram Pai said in an X post honouring his grandfather yesterday.
Because it opened its doors to skilled professionals from all over the country, after highlighting his own startup as an example of Bangalore’s inclusivity, Pai emphasized that the city achieved its reputation as India’s tech capital specifically. Because of Bangalore, “Thousands of people from across India have found jobs, built careers, and created better lives. He questioned what was unfortunate about North Indians benefiting from his grandfather’s initiative, revealing that his own team at ReferRush is entirely North Indian. He argued that targeting migrants undermines the city’s identity. Pai further claimed that his grandfather created Electronic City to generate economic growth for everyone rather than fuel regional divides.
“My entire team is North Indian and I love them,” he asserted. “My grandfather built Electronic City to create opportunity, not division,” he said. “Bangalore became India’s Silicon Valley by attracting talent from everywhere, not by asking where people were born,” concluded Pai. (Also read: Bengaluru entrepreneur says Bengal, Northeast staff more willing to work till 1 am: ‘We have a lot of Kannadigas but…’ )
