An SBI Bank Manager in Bengaluru refused to speak in Kannada, Karnataka’s official language, as a customer kept insisting and reminding her that “this is Karnataka”, sparking the language row.
The incident, the video of which is now in wide circulation, was reported from Chandapura, a suburb in south of Bengaluru.
Here’s how the conversation between the bank official and the customer went:
Customer: Wait a second, this is Karnataka.
Bank Manager: You have not given me employment.
Customer: This is Karnataka, madam.
Bank Manager: So? This is India.
Customer: Kannada first, madam.
Bank Manager: I will not speak Kannada for you.
The man did not give up: demanding that the officer speak in Kannada.
Customer: So you will never speak Kannada?
Bank Manager: No. I will speak Hindi.
The two kept going at each other for a few minutes, with neither party yielding.
Bank Manager: Hindi
Customer: Kannada
Bank Manager: Hindi
Customer: Kannada
The conversation was stuck with the two people refusing to speak in the language the other wanted.
“Madam this is Karnataka, you should speak Kannada. It’s not about the chairman, there is an RBI rule that in that particular state you must speak the respective language,” said the man, reminding the officer.
“I will never speak Kannada,” declared the Bank Manager, ending the conversation.
“Super, madam, super,” the customer shot back sarcastically.
The man, who kept recording the exchange between them, urged people to teach this bank a lesson.
“Viewers, this is the SBI branch in Chandapura, you should all teach a lesson to this branch, we should all be united,” he said.
Pro-Kannada activist groups, which are up in arms over the incident, will stage a protest tomorrow.
They are planning to march to the SBI main branch and submit a memorandum in this regard.
