Bengaluru: The branch manager of a State Bank of India (SBI) branch in Karnataka has been transferred following allegations of refusing to speak in Kannada, the local language. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah confirmed the transfer, calling the bank employee’s behavior “highly reprehensible.” He emphasized that respecting local languages is equivalent to respecting the people.

The Chief Minister further stated that every bank employee should speak politely with customers and endeavor to communicate in the local language.

A video of the incident has gone viral on social media, showing an argument between the SBI manager and a customer. The manager allegedly refused the customer’s request to speak in Kannada, insisting on speaking only in Hindi.

According to reports, the manager then told the customer, “You didn’t give me this job.” The customer responded, “This is Karnataka,” to which the SBI manager retorted, “This is India.” The customer then insisted, “First Kannada,” leading the manager to say, “I will not speak Kannada for you.” A heated exchange ensued between them over Hindi and Kannada. The manager even urged the customer to record the incident, questioning whether speaking Kannada was mandatory.

The video quickly spread across social media. One user tagged SBI and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, alleging that the State Bank of India manager attempted to impose Hindi aggression on the customer and, in doing so, abused and disregarded RBI guidelines. In response to statewide protests, SBI later issued a statement saying, “We are deeply concerned about the recent incident at our Chandapura branch in South Bengaluru. The matter is being thoroughly evaluated.”

It is noteworthy that over the past few years, Tamil Nadu has accused the central government of attempting to impose the Hindi language, notably rejecting the National Education Policy in the state. Amidst this, Hindi has been made a compulsory subject in primary education in Maharashtra, also drawing accusations of linguistic aggression. Now, the SBI manager in Karnataka faces similar accusations of forcibly imposing Hindi, particularly in a southern Indian state.