On the evening of 1 November 2026, the Banquet Hall of Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru filled with the pride of ಕರುನಾಡು (Karunaadu — the beloved land of Karnataka) as the state's finest citizens were gathered in one room. The Chief Minister's Office of Karnataka announced that Chief Minister DK Shivakumar personally attended the felicitation ceremony organised on the occasion of the 71st Karnataka Rajyotsava, extending warm congratulations to the Rajyotsava award winners of the year.

Seventy-one years of statehood — and a room full of its finest

Every year on 1 November, Karnataka pauses to remember the day it came into being. On 1 November 1956, the States Reorganisation Act brought together Kannada-speaking regions from multiple princely states and provinces into a single administrative unit — first called Mysore State, renamed Karnataka in 1973. That founding moment is now 70 years old, and its annual commemoration, the Rajyotsava, has grown into one of South India's most prominent state-formation celebrations.

The Rajyotsava award — the state's highest civilian honour — is conferred each year on individuals who have made distinguished contributions to literature, arts, science, social service, sports, and public life. Being felicitated at the Chief Minister's table at Vidhana Soudha, the imposing granite seat of Karnataka's legislature and government, carries significant symbolic weight for awardees and their communities.

DK Shivakumar at the helm of the celebration

Chief Minister DK Shivakumar — a senior Congress leader who has long been one of the most influential political figures in Karnataka — presided over the santoshakuta (felicitation gathering), personally conveying congratulations to each prize recipient. The event at the Banquet Hall was a preetiya santoshakuta, literally a 'gathering of love and joy', underscoring the government's intent to frame the occasion as a warm celebration of Kannadiga achievement rather than a formal state ceremony.

The Chief Minister's Office shared photographs of the evening on X, capturing the spirit of the gathering — a visual record of the state's annual commitment to recognising citizens who carry Karnataka's name forward in their respective fields.

A living tradition on Karnataka's cultural calendar

The Rajyotsava felicitation at Vidhana Soudha is a fixture in the state's cultural calendar, repeated with deliberate consistency by every government in power. Its continuity is itself a statement — that however contested the political landscape, the honouring of Karnataka's achievers belongs to everyone. For the 2026 cycle, the full official list of Rajyotsava award recipients is expected to be released and detailed in the coming days, shedding light on who from the fields of art, letters, science and public service the state has chosen to celebrate this year.

As Bengaluru's evening sky turned the red-and-yellow of the Kannada flag, one message from the Banquet Hall was unambiguous: Karnataka's 71st year begins by looking at the people who built it.