AI image showing '90s Bengaluru vs 2025' goes viral, suggests Inner Line Permit as solution

The image shows three contrasting visuals: a lush, green, and sparsely populated Bengaluru from the 1990s; a chaotic 2025 version and a solution.

An AI-generated image comparing Bengaluru in the 1990s with the city in 2025 has gone viral on social media, drawing mixed reactions for its grim depiction of urban decay and its provocative suggestion, introducing an Inner Line Permit (ILP) system as a solution.

The image surfaced online shortly after Bengaluru witnessed severe rainfall, which brought the city’s fragile infrastructure into focus.(X/@shivanand087)

The collage shows three contrasting visuals: a lush, green, and sparsely populated Bengaluru from the 1990s; a chaotic 2025 version marked by flooding, overpopulation, and rampant urbanisation; and finally, a message stating that the way forward is the implementation of an ILP, a permit system currently used in certain northeastern states to regulate entry of outsiders.

Check out the post here:

The image surfaced online shortly after Bengaluru witnessed severe rainfall, which once again brought the city’s fragile infrastructure into focus. Several parts of the city were inundated, reigniting debates about unchecked development, poor civic planning, and the strain on public services.

However, the AI image’s proposed solution, the Inner Line Permit, triggered sharp debate among social media users. Critics slammed the idea as unconstitutional and impractical.

How did X users react?

“This is a solution??? Build infrastructure, vote intelligently, hold your municipality accountable! This suggestion of yours is isolationist and unconstitutional,” one X user posted.

Another called it a “silly” proposal, saying, “You guys simply cannot think big at all. Instead of taking up an ambitious project to fix the infrastructure, you're proposing these silly solutions.”

Not everyone dismissed the idea. A few users supported the sentiment behind the ILP suggestion, citing growing cultural and infrastructural stress. “Absolutely true… otherwise there will be differences. In the long run, Inner Line is necessary,” one wrote.

Others worried the debate was veering toward divisive politics. “Instead of One India, everyone here wants to divide India into thousands of pieces again,” another user said.