Sridhar Vembu says Zoho employees don't need to be fluent in English for most jobs

Zoho co-founder and CEO Sridhar Vembu was reacting in defense of Assam's Himanta Biswa Sarma who was recently trolled.

Zoho co-founder and CEO Sridhar Vembu on Tuesday hit out at "elite India" for its obsession with English language and declared that at his company, employees do not need to be fluent in English.

"Elite India has the bias that people who do not speak/read/write fluent English (that would be at least 95 percent of our population) are stupid," he tweeted. "We can only make progress when we get rid of that English obsession. At Zoho, we consciously do not require English fluency for most jobs."

Elite India has the bias that people who do not speak/read/write fluent English (that would be at least 95% of our population) are stupid.

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We can only make progress when we get rid of that English obsession. At Zoho, we consciously do not require English fluency for most jobs. https://t.co/fVcca464qj

— Sridhar Vembu (@svembu) April 4, 2023

Sridhar Vembu was responding in defense of Assam's Himanta Biswa Sarma who is being trolled and called a "copy-paste CM" after a video of him copying texts from a page while filling details in a visitor's book went viral.

Responding to the video, Sarma acknowledged he went to an Assamese medium school and has little knowledge of English as well as Hindu languages. But, in a "humble way", Himanta Biswa Sarma said he was trying his best to be proficient in both languages.

"I went to an Assamese medium school and am trying my best to learn Hindi and English in my own humble way. I must admit that I do not know English and Hindi very well, and I have no hesitation in admitting it," he tweeted.

Several others also jumped to Sarma's defence.

Twitter user Devendra Mahra (@devendrasm) said about 80-90 percent of the team members at his company are from Hindi medium schools. "Based on my experience of teaching them, I can confidently say that there is immense rural and small town talent that can be unlocked once we stop obsessing about English," he tweeted.

Twitter user Ratnadip Choudhury (@RatnadipC) commented, "Solid reply by Assam CM. Hindi is not a language many people in the northeast are comfortable with, but we read, try to write the language and when someone is attempting it, may he be the chief minister or a normal person like me we should encourage, not troll."

Read more: Italy wants to ban English language. Violators to be fined upto Rs 90 lakh