 "Siddaramaiah, Karnataka CM")
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday condemned the conduct of an SBI branch manager in Bengaluru for allegedly refusing to speak in Kannada and arguing with a customer over it.
The matter flared up when a purported video of an SBI branch manager in Anekal taluk went viral on social media, on Tuesday, in which she is arguing with a customer saying, “I will not speak in Kannada for sure.......but Hindi”.
Despite the customer citing Reserve Bank of India (RBI) regulations — which requires bank staff to communicate in the regional language — the manager can be heard repeatedly declining to do so.
Referring to the incident, CM said, “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. We appreciate SBI’s swift action in transferring the official. The matter may now be treated as closed.”
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 "Siddaramaiah")
 "Kannada")
 "Earlier this month, the Union Cabinet granted classical language status to Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese, and Bengali. With Tamil (2004), Sanskrit (2005), Telugu (2008), Kannada (2008), Malayalam (2013), and Odia (2014) already designated as class")
This behaviour by @TheOfficialSBI Branch Manager is simply not acceptable. If you are doing customer interface work in Karnataka, especially in a sector like banking , it is important to communicate to customers in the language they know. Being adamant like this is simply not… pic.twitter.com/VPB8i5eTvB
— Tejasvi Surya (@Tejasvi_Surya) May 21, 2025
He further appreciated SBI’s swift action in transferring the official. “The matter may now be treated as closed,” he said, adding that such incidents must not recur.
“All bank employees must treat customers with dignity and make every effort to speak in the local language. I urge the Ministry of Finance & Dept of Financial Services to mandate cultural and language sensitisation training for all bank staff across India. Respecting the local language is respecting the people,” Siddaramaiah posted on X.
The episode comes amid simmering linguistic tensions in several states, including Karnataka and Maharashtra, where local language advocates have pushed back against what they see as Hindi imposition. They demand that people living in or moving to these states for work should make an effort to communicate in the regional language.
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