‘Jayanagar was built like Tokyo or London’: 1948 invite sparks outrage over Bengaluru’s civic decline

In his post, Tejasvi Surya described the invitation as “a reminder of how Bengaluru went from Jayanagar’s planned blueprint to today’s maddening chaos.”

A vintage 1948 invitation marking the inauguration of Jayanagar, one of Bengaluru’s earliest planned neighbourhoods, has gone viral after Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya shared it on X, sparking a public debate over how the city lost its original vision of urban planning and civic foresight.

Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya shared a vintage 1948 invitation marking the inauguration of Jayanagar. (X/Tejasvi Surya)

In his post, Surya described the invitation as “a reminder of how Bengaluru went from Jayanagar’s planned blueprint to today’s maddening chaos.”

He said the document reflected an era when city-building was treated as nation-building, with engineers, architects, and visionaries, not contractors, leading the process.

‘Jayanagar was built like Tokyo or London’

He noted that the layout was designed on principles followed by global cities such as Tokyo, New York, and London, featuring grid-based planning, dedicated civic and commercial zones, tree-lined roads and broad footpaths.

Even the act of inviting the Governor-General of India to inaugurate a residential layout, he said, underscored the seriousness with which urban planning was once undertaken.

In contrast, Surya argued, today’s Bengaluru reflects the collapse of that civic vision. “Where there were walkable boulevards, we have potholes and parking chaos. Where there were civic squares, we now have encroachments and flyovers,” he wrote.

He blamed successive governments for turning once visionary planning bodies like the BDA into “contractors’ departments”, saying city development is now guided by short-term politics and populism rather than long-term vision.

Surya listed examples of Bengaluru’s planning failures, roads without logic, footpaths that end abruptly, drainage projects launched after floods, and Metro routes “retrofitted into chaos.”

Calling for a return to Bengaluru’s founding ethos, Surya urged city planners and policymakers to “plan before building” and “design for people, not vehicles.”

“The story of Jayanagar,” he said, “should inspire a new generation of urban reformers to ask what kind of city we want to leave behind, a monument to neglect or a model of vision and inspiration.”

His remarks have since triggered widespread discussion online, with many users echoing concerns about Bengaluru’s deteriorating civic infrastructure and the need to revive Visvesvaraya-era discipline in urban planning.