Mysore/Mysuru, April 21 -- Public queue up from 5 am to buy Mysore Silk saree at KSIC showroom while people with VIP influence quietly pick up sarees at counter inside KSIC Centenary Building after 3 pm

In what many see as a mockery of the spirit of equality in a democracy, an exclusive or call it a secret 'VIP Counter' at the Karnataka Silk Industries Corporation Limited (KSIC) showroom on Manandavadi Road is drawing criticism for favouring the influential over ordinary buyers.

Accessible only to a select few with the right connections, the counter has sparked comparisons to colonial-era privilege, where access to public goods was reserved for the elite.

Outside the showroom, however, the scene is starkly different. Women begin queuin...