By News18,Sahas Mahapatra

Copyright news18

Rajendra Cholan, the commissioner of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), faced the wrath of social media after being captured in a viral video with a Canadian vlogger. The commission shot a video with Caleb Friesen after he brought to the internet’s attention the pedestrian state of a pathway in the Majestic Area.
Friesen’s sincere effort to highlight the pathetic condition of the street was followed by a civic clean-up drive introduced in the city by Cholan. Later on, the commissioner shot a clip with the Canadian vlogger on the same pathway, asking for his opinion on the authorities’ swift action to clear up the infrastructural mess.
Bengaluru Official’s Video Called A PR Stunt
Residents and many social media users, however, raised doubts about the commissioner’s intentions and called his latest video with Friesen a ‘publicity stunt’. Many argued that it took a foreigner to bring the spotlight to a longstanding issue of public inconvenience and criticised the official.
The matter began with a video shot by Friesen, who had raised concerns over the terrible state of pedestrian pathways in the Majestic area. The vlogger’s clip revealed the regular ordeal faced by locals, who found it extremely difficult to travel from the Majestic bus stand to nearby shops without stepping onto the road. Once the video went viral on the internet, social media users called out the poor infrastructure in the busy city and urged authorities to take immediate action.

walking 2.4 km of Bengaluru footpaths showed me:
– tunnel juice– barbed wire– desire paths– bushwhacking– pavement pudding– a stairwell into a drain– something I can’t type here
don’t watch this if you have a weak stomach pic.twitter.com/vxijXd021g
— Caleb (@caleb_friesen2) September 11, 2025

On September 13, the civic body launched a clean drive on the same pedestrian pathway, while Cholan personally joined private volunteers to sweep the pavement. He then sat down with the volunteers to have snacks on the freshly cleaned stretch.

Bengaluru Central City Commissioner Sri Rajendra Cholan today visited
? Freedom Park Multi Level Parking
? Anand Rao Circle & Majestic surrounding areas
✨ Participated in the Swachhata & Painting drive organized by NGO and motivated the team. pic.twitter.com/tO8WXDD6aa
— Greater Bengaluru Authority (@GBAoffic) September 13, 2025

Bengaluru Official’s Swift Response To Foreigner Alarms Locals
As the commissioner called Friesen for a re-look of the stretch, he shot a video where the vlogger says, “This is incredible. It is amazing to see everybody sitting and eating in the same place where there was trash, urine and barbed wire. You couldn’t even walk on this place.”
But the video backfired after Cholan received anger of the social media users, as the top official of the civic body promptly responded to a foreigner’s complaint and ignored similar grievances raised by the locals.
“It took a white man’s video to go viral for them to suddenly remember their duty,” said one user.
Another commented, “Bengaluru municipality needs a Canadian influencer just to discover brooms exist.”
“Are we still under colonial rule, where a white man’s video carries more weight than Indian voices in getting things done?” wrote an individual.
The incident highlighted double standards on the part of the civic body, which clearly acted under pressure after a video from a foreigner raised the matter globally.