After a State Bank of India (SBI) manager refused to speak Kannada to a local resident, she was forced to eat her words and issue a video apology, that too in Kannada. The apology came after a video of her argument with the localite went viral and drew flak online. In response, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced that the manager had been transferred to another branch. He also urged Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to mandate “language sensitisation training for all bank staffers”.

“The behaviour of the SBI Branch Manager in Surya Nagara, Anekal Taluk, refusing to speak in Kannada & English and showing disregard to citizens, is strongly condemnable,” wrote Siddaramaiah in his “Kannada First” post on X (formerly known as Twitter). 

He added, “We appreciate SBI’s swift action in transferring the official. The matter may now be treated as closed. However, such incidents must not recur. All bank employees must treat customers with dignity and make every effort to speak in the local language.”

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“I urge the Finance Minister & Dept of Financial Services to mandate cultural and language sensitisation training for all bank staff across India. Respecting local language is respecting the people,” he went on to say.

‘Will not speak Kannada,’ says pro-Hindi SBI manager

“You haven’t given me this job,” says the SBI manager, refusing to speak in Kannada.

In response, the local calmly reminds her, “This is Karnataka, madam.”

“So? This is India,” the manager replies, insisting she will not speak in Kannada and will only speak in Hindi. She then tells the customer to take his language complaint to her chairman.

The customer urges her to show basic linguistic sensitivity, pointing out that she is working in Karnataka and should make an effort to speak the local language. He also appeals to Kannadiga groups to stand united on the issue.

“I will never speak Kannada,” the SBI manager reiterates as she walks away.

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SBI manager apologises in broken Kannada

“If I have hurt anyone, I sincerely apologise. I will try to cooperate and conduct my business in Kannada going forward,” says the SBI manager in broken Kannada with the help of her colleagues after courting controversy over the Kannada language.

Sonu Nigam apologises after social media outrage and FIR

Earlier, Sonu Nigam courted controversy after he refused to sing a song in Kannada, adding that this is why “incidents like Pahalgam” happen. 

“In my career, I have sung in multiple languages, but the best songs I have ever sung are in Kannada. We do a lot of shows in a lot of places, but whenever we have shows in Karnataka, we come with a lot of respect for you. You have treated me like your family, but I didn’t like it when the boy there, who is not even as old as my career, rudely threatened me to sing in Kannada,” Sonu Nigam can be heard saying in the viral video. 

He added, “It is because of such behaviour that incidents like the Pahalgam attack happen.”

Following this, an FIR was filed against him by the police on the complaint of pro-Kannada group Karnataka Rakshana Vedike leader Dharamraj A under sections relating to intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace and incitement to public mischief.

The FIR states that he “hurt the sentiments” of the Kannadiga community through his remarks. 

“There was no correlation between the request for a Kannada song and the incident in Kashmir. Yet, he made a statement along those lines, which hurt the sentiments of Kannadigas. Hence, we registered a case,” CK Baba, DSP Bengaluru Rural, said. 

The 51-year-old singer apologised on Instagram after the backlash. “Sorry, Karnataka. My love for you is bigger than my ego. Love you always.”

The apology comes after his long post where he said that he is not a “young lad” who will succumb to “humiliation from anyone”. 

Taking to Instagram, he wrote, “I have given unprecedented love to the language, the culture, the music, the musicians, the state and the people, not just when I am in Karnataka but anywhere else in the world. In fact, I have revered my Kannada songs way more than my songs in other languages, including Hindi. There are 100s of videos circulating on social media as a testimony. I have more than an hour of Kannada songs that I prepare for every concert when in Karnataka.”

“I am entitled to take offence at someone as young as my son threatening me directly in front of thousands in the name of language that too Kannada, which is my second language when it comes to my work,” he added. 

He further expressed, “Being a patriot that I am, I loathe anyone trying to create hate in the name of language, caste or religion, especially after what transpired in Pahalgam. I had to school them, and I did, and thousands of students and teachers cheered me for it. The matter got over, and I sang Kannada for more than an hour. It’s all there on social media.”