‘I love Bengaluru’: Instagram influencer backpedals after facing backlash for viral post

Content creator Sugandh Sharma continued to make headlines after her initial Instagram reel about Bengaluru, where she remarked that the city would be deserted if all its North Indians residents left.

After the public outcry that ensued, she reversed her stance, uploading a fresh video saying she has deep affection for Bengaluru, and urged people to stop using her video to create division in the country.

“I love Bengaluru. And to all those who are writing a lot of nasty comments on my funny, light-hearted comedy reels, feeling hurt, posting hate comments, or trying to spread a lot of hate by sharing my videos, I just want to say this: Look, I’m a traveller. Wherever I go, I try to learn the culture of that place," she said in the recent video.

“I have always respected this city, this state, and all of India because I’m a traveller. And we all need to have an open mind,” she added.

“North, South, East, West – whatever part of India we come from, we’re all part of the same country. So, we are all one. I don’t want anyone watching my reels to try and create divisions. We’re not colonisers; we are Indians,” she can be heard saying in the video.

Sharma became embroiled in a controversy after claiming that without North Indians, paying guest accommodations and clubs would be vacant, and landlords would no longer enjoy rental income. Sharma also commented that the city would lose the "girls dancing to Punjabi songs”.

She faced widespread backlash on social media for these statements, with several notable figures, including Chandan Shetty, Chaithra J Achar and Anupama Gowda condemning her remarks.

“Please leave," actor and rapper Chandan Shetty wrote, with a folded hands emoji.

“If you can actually leave, just as an experiment, and see how Bangalore becomes empty, we are ready to live with that emptiness and dancers-less pubs. We can live with it. Really. Forget all other North Indians. You leave ma’am, enough for now!" Chaithra J Achar replied.

“If you think this is cool, nope it isn’t. You need Bengaluru more than anything else and your leaving Bengaluru doesn’t make any difference to our OORU and for a fact, we all know you can’t leave Bengaluru – if you know you know,” Anupama Gowda’s reply read.