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Siddaramaiah condemns SBI bank manager for refusing to speak in Kannada May 21, 2025

periyannan9 months ago9 months ago04 mins

Siddaramaiah condemns SBI bank manager for refusing to speak in Kannada

A female bank manager working at SBI Bank in Surya City, Chandapura, Karnataka, has created a stir after she told a customer that she cannot speak in Kannada, which has even drawn condemnation from the Chief Minister of Karnataka.

Let us see this in detail,

When a customer asked the bank manager at the Surecity SBI branch in the Chandapura area of Karnataka, the bank manager replied in Hindi. When the customer asked, “I don’t understand what you are saying, please tell me in Kannada,” the bank manager replied, “I can’t speak Kannada.” To this, the customer said, “You are working in Karnataka and you refuse to speak Kannada. According to SBI Bank rules, bank employees must speak the language of that region.” To this, the bank manager replied, “This is India, I only speak Hindi, I can’t speak Kannada.” In addition, the bank manager told the bank employees that he only speaks Hindi to us and doesn’t speak Kannada.

This video went viral on social media, and then Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah condemned the bank manager’s actions for ignoring the customer who spoke in Kannada and English.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had asked all the employees of the bank to try to speak in the state language and take awareness classes to respect the state language and culture.

Following this, Karnataka organizations blockaded the bank and staged a protest.
Following this, SBI released an apology video on behalf of the bank.

In the video, the bank manager smiled and said that if anyone was hurt, please forgive him. After telling the person nearby not to smile, he said, “If I said that I cannot speak Kannada, please forgive me. Now I will try to speak in Kannada.”