Bengaluru Tech Founder Cites “Language Nonsense” for Moving Office to Pune
Updated on: 23 May, 2025 06:39 PM IST |Sudheesh SK
bengaluru tech language controversy 2025
A Bengaluru-based tech entrepreneur, Kaushik Mukherjee, has announced plans to relocate his company’s office to Pune within six months, blaming ongoing “language nonsense” in the city.
Mukherjee stated that the decision was driven by worries expressed by his non-Kannada-speaking employees.“If this language nonsense continues, I do not want my non-Kannada-speaking employees to become the next victims,” he wrote on X.
The decision follows a recent incident at a State Bank of India (SBI) branch in Bengaluru’s Chandapura area, where a manager refused to speak Kannada with a customer, stating, “This is India, I’ll speak Hindi, not Kannada.” The video of this exchange went viral, sparking widespread criticism from Kannada activists and political leaders.
This behaviour by @TheOfficialSBI Branch Manager is simply not acceptable.
— Tejasvi Surya (@Tejasvi_Surya) May 21, 2025
If you are doing customer interface work in Karnataka, especially in a sector like banking , it is important to communicate to customers in the language they know. Being adamant like this is simply not… pic.twitter.com/VPB8i5eTvB
The post by Mukherjee was in response to Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya, who shared the video and condemned the manager’s conduct as “not acceptable.” Surya emphasized the importance of communicating with customers in the local language, especially in sectors like banking, and reiterated his call for banks and other public-facing institutions in Karnataka to deploy staff fluent in Kannada.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah also condemned the SBI manager’s behavior and urged the Union Finance Ministry to introduce cultural and language sensitivity training for banking staff across the country. The manager has since been relocated, and both he and the bank have apologized. In a Kannada statement, the manager committed to showing greater sensitivity in future dealings with customers.
The Kannada Development Authority (KDA) highlighted a growing trend of non-Kannadigas being posted in customer-facing roles in banks, which has caused a disconnect with local citizens who expect services in their mother tongue. As per Reserve Bank of India guidelines, banks must offer services in English, Hindi, and the respective regional language.
With growing demands for linguistic respect and cultural sensitivity, the incident has sparked a wider debate on the importance of regional languages in public services highlighting a pressing need for balance between diversity and inclusion in India’s evolving workplaces!
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