Former Infosys director TV Mohandas Pai criticised a State Bank of India (SBI) branch manager in Karnataka for refusing to speak in Kannada, calling the conduct “very, very wrong” and equating it with colonial arrogance.
The incident, which unfolded at the SBI Surya Nagar branch in Anekal taluk near Bengaluru, sparked a linguistic and cultural row after a video of a woman manager went viral on social media. In the footage, a customer can be heard requesting the bank official to converse in Kannada. The manager, however, is heard responding bluntly: “I will not speak in Kannada for sure,” and insisted on using Hindi instead.
The video drew widespread outrage from Kannada-speaking citizens and pro-Kannada groups, who demanded action against the bank employee. Following the public backlash, the manager issued an on-camera apology, but that did little to quell the storm.
The controversy caught the attention of prominent voices online, including Mohandas Pai, who responded to a post defending the manager’s right to not use the local language. “Every business must serve its local customers in a language they understand. This is not the British Raj again. This is a service business,” Pai posted on X (formerly Twitter).
He emphasised that Kannada fluency was not being demanded, but simply basic communication in the language out of respect for local customers. “Learning, say, 200 words to converse is difficult? They are customers, not your captives or subjects. This arrogance is very, very wrong,” he added.
Pai’s remarks were in direct reply to a post by X user Tushar Gupta, who had written: “It's the State Bank of India, not the State Bank of Karnataka. This business of 'learn the local language to work in the state' cannot be allowed. We are Indians first. The Constitution has no such condition.”
Gupta’s post, arguing against mandatory local language use for national institutions, sparked intense debate. Pai pushed back, suggesting that customer service roles require a level of linguistic accommodation: “Nobody is asking them to write or read the language. But they must speak to people in a language they understand. Every business has to respect its customers.”
The issue also drew a sharp response from Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who condemned the bank official’s behaviour and applauded the swift action taken by SBI. “The behaviour of the bank official is strongly condemnable,” he said in a public statement. “Respecting local language is respecting the people.”
The Chief Minister confirmed that the bank had transferred the employee from the branch and urged the Union Finance Ministry to introduce mandatory cultural and language sensitisation training for all bank staff posted across India.
“This is not just about Karnataka,” Siddaramaiah noted. “This is about ensuring dignity and respect for local languages and culture in every part of the country.”
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