From Student Leader to Indifferent Chief: B.K. Hariprasad’s Costly Welcome

 BVSee

Politics, at its core, is meant to serve the public, yet all too often, the theater of political power comes at the direct expense of ordinary citizens. The recent chaotic scenes on the streets of Bengaluru during the inauguration of the new Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President, B K Hariprasad, offer a glaring and unfortunate example of this reality. As a massive political caravan brought the capital's traffic to a grinding halt to celebrate a change in party leadership, hundreds of students writing the crucial NIT exams were caught in the crossfire of political grandstanding.

Television screens across the state soon filled with the distressing sight of anxious students explaining their ordeal, desperately trying to navigate gridlocked roads to reach their examination centers on time. For some, the traffic snarls proved insurmountable; they were barred from entering the centers, effectively wiping out a year of intense preparation and forcing them to wait until the next cycle. The sheer irony of the situation is impossible to ignore. For weeks, Congress leaders nationwide have been vociferously attacking the Central government for its alleged mismanagement and bungling of national-level examinations. Yet, at the state level, the party’s own celebratory zeal created a physical bottleneck that directly compromised the academic future of the very students they claim to champion.

When confronted, the state Congress unit expectedly shifted into a defensive posture. While Hariprasad eventually offered an apology for the severe inconvenience caused, it came with a frustrating rider rather than being an expression of unreserved regret. What makes this lack of empathy particularly striking is Hariprasad’s own political trajectory, which began in student union politics. A leader who cut his teeth fighting for student rights should intuitively understand the immense pressure, sleepless nights, and high stakes tied to a national competitive exam. He, of all people, should have anticipated the chaos a massive political procession would unleash on Bengaluru's already fragile infrastructure.

Instead of conditional regret, the situation demanded an unconditional apology and a proactive discussion on compensation or systemic remedy for the affected students. The insensitivity displayed here leaves a bitter taste in the mouths of citizens and students across the state. It reinforces the perception that for political parties, internal optics and displays of strength will always eclipse public welfare. As the opposition BJP rightly capitalizes on this massive blunder, the real casualties remain the students, whose hard work was derailed not by a lack of preparation, but by the careless choreography of a political parade.