On the grounds of the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA), which is located on the outskirts of the city, a bronze monument of Nadaprabhu Kempegowda, who is recognised as the founder of Bengaluru, will shortly be revealed. Additionally, Basavaraj Bommai, the chief minister of Karnataka, has said that a statue of Kempegowda will be erected inside the Vidhana Soudha grounds within a year.
Bengaluru is said to have been founded in the sixteenth century by Nadaprabhu Kempegowda, a commander of the Vijayanagara kingdom. It is reported that he had the idea for a new city while out hunting with his minister. He then designated the boundaries of the new city by building towers in each of its four corners.
Around 1,000 lakes were built in the city by Kempegowda to meet agricultural and drinking demands.
He was from south Karnataka’s predominately agrarian Vokkaliga community.
The major metro station in the city, Nadaprabhu Kempegowda metro station, the Kempegowda International Airport, and the Kempegowda Bus Stand all bear his name. The KG Road, also known as the Kempegowda Road, is a main road in the old city.
On the grounds of the airport, a 23-acre heritage park is where the 108-foot bronze monument is being built. It has a 4,000 kilogramme sword that flew from Delhi to Bengaluru’s airport last month. The sword was transported from Delhi aboard a special truck.
At the time, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa announced intentions to spend Rs 100 crore installing a bronze statue of Kempegowda at the city’s international airport.
This announcement had been made a day after a sizable protest by the Vokkaliga community in Bengaluru over the alleged targeting of its members by federal investigation agencies, including Congressman D K Shivakumar, the late founder of Café Coffee Day, V G Siddharth, and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy.
As part of its aggressive campaign to gain traction in the historic Mysuru region, which is thought to be the Vokkaliga bastion, the BJP had planned to lure numerous community leaders from southern Karnataka around the time of the protest.
The current CM, Basavaraj Bommai, advanced the proposal to erect the monument.
The much-anticipated opening of Terminal-2 at the international airport will coincide with the unveiling of the monument, according to the CM.
The second-most powerful Vokkaliga group in Karnataka, behind the Lingayats, reveres Kempegowda as a legendary person. According to BJP officials, the saffron party intends to win over the Vokkaliga population by honouring Kempegowda.
The BJP has failed to win over the Vokkaliga minority, and as a result, has never gained a clear majority of more than 113 members in the 224-member Karnataka Assembly. The community’s core is the historic city of Mysuru.
The former Kingdom of Mysore’s territory in south Karnataka is now known as the “ancient Mysuru region,” which includes the cities of Mysuru, Mandya, Chamarajanagar, Tumkur, Hassan, Chikmagalur, Kolar, and Bengaluru but excludes the coastal regions and Kodagu.
After nearly winning Karnataka in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP has been seeing a new chance to gain ground in the area.
The JD(S) and Congress parties have often had support from the Vokkaliga population, which includes former Prime Minister HD Devegowda.
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