Zoho CEO asks non-Kannada speakers in Bengaluru to learn Kannada; netizens hit back on social media

The debate regarding locals in Bengaluru—politicians and autorickshaw drivers alike—for non-Kannada speakers to learn the local language got a lease of life, this time from a software development veteran. Sridhar Vembu, the founder and CEO of IT services giant Zoho, took to social media platform X, urging anyone who considers the city their home to learn to speak Kannada. 

Vembu remarked that it was “disrespectful” to not learn the language, triggering stark reaction online. However, the Zoho CEO’s own comment was a response to a photo post featuring two people sporting T-shirts with the words “Hindi National Language” on them, captioned, “Perfect T-shirt for Bangalore trip.” 

“If you make Bengaluru your home, you should learn Kannada, and your kids should learn Kannada. Not doing so after living many years in Bengaluru is disrespectful. I often request our employees in Chennai coming from other states to make an effort to learn Tamil after they come here,” read Vembu’s response.

A Mumbai-based user did not waste much time and hit back, “I have many Kannada friends in Mumbai, living here for decades. No one can speak Marathi. Not one word. Fair?” Similar incidents of Marathi imposition were recently reported in various regions in Maharashtra, but they seldom got any steam due to the melting pot nature of Mumbai. 

Similarly, Bengaluru has recently garnered a reputation as a new hub for people to move from different parts of the country, with new IT-based roles emerging due to the explosion of the startup ecosystem. 

Users even suggested entrance tests in Kannada, albeit on a lighter note. “Great Sir. Let’s divide the country and make borders with the requirement of an IELTS kind certificate in the local language for entrance. Just before that, the tagline of our country, ‘Unity in diversity’, should be immersed in Ganga in Varanasi,” responded one person.

Others were very blunt and said the IT services company founder sounded “immature”. They wrote on X, “You sound immature here. Being Disrespectful for any language, culture is unacceptable but not learning a language is being disrespectful? Logic dies there.”

It was only a week ago when Sridhar Vembu went all out at Nasdaq-listed software firm Freshworks. When Freshworks announced the layoff of 13 per cent of its workforce, Vembu, criticised the company for adopting US corporate tactics.

The Zoho founder did not mince words when he posted on X: "a company that has USD 1 billion cash, which is about 1.5 times its annual revenue, and is actually still growing at a decent 20 per cent rate and making a cash profit, laying off 12-13 per cent of its workforce should not expect any loyalty from its employees ever."

"This behaviour, sadly, has become all too common in the US corporate world, and we are importing it into India. It has only resulted in large-scale employee cynicism in the US, and we are importing that too," he added.