Click to play videoBangalore: In April 2006, the entire city of Bangalore burnt after the death of film star Rajkumar. Life had come to s standstill for three days as mobs ran riot.
In October 2006, Kannada organisations called for a Karnataka bandh taking view of the border issue with Maharashtra. Most of Bangalore was shut down on that day as it was too scared to work.
There were communal clashes that took place in January 2007 in the heart of Bangalore. Two days later, police arrested 67 people, most of whom were youngsters and aged around 20 years.
But the larger question is why is Bangalore erupting in anger so frequently?
Social scientists say the answer is in the widening income gaps.
“We need to understand the changing character of Bangalore city. It’s being seen as Promised Land. There's a swelling rank of people who want to belong to the growth in Bangalore but are not able to do that. It has led to greater visibility of the divide between haves and have-nots,” says head, Centre for Social Change and Development, ISEC, Professor G K Karanth
So while the city helps thousands of yuppies get rich quick, there are also a growing number of disgruntled youngsters, left behind by the IT bandwagon.
There are mostly the rural folk who are vulnerable to exploitation by political groups, and are willing to be at the forefront of any disruptive procession.
“The rebelliousness sometimes crosses its limits. They want to prove that we can do what we want and then they resort to means that is neither ethical nor legal,” says psychologist and counselor, Dr Ali Khwaja.
But for the common Bangalorean, it's all new.
“For last few years, Bangalore is getting disturbed by different communities,” says a resident of Bangalore.
“Because we live in Bangalore we think the city is changing. But actually it is the whole world that is changing,” says another resident.
But like it or not, the dream run that Bangalore has seen over the last few years has not taken everyone with it. And that's why, there's a growing rebellion trying to express itself ever so often.
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