India’s tech hub, Bengaluru, has been a melting pot of cultures, languages, and identities. This diversity has often sparked debates around the need to speak Kannada in the metro city. Adding fuel to the never-ending discussion, a social media user has accused a Bengaluru policeman of ‘unsaid discrimination’ based on language.
Social media user Vatsal Sanghvi recently shared his interaction with a Bengaluru policeman while he was citing outside with his friend at night.
What led to encounter with Bengaluru cop?
In his social media post, Sanghvi said that he was sitting outside with a friend near Lavelle Road after 10:20 pm. The two were about to leave but a policeman stopped and started inquiring them in a ‘hostile’ manner.
“I was sitting with a friend outside go native, lavelle road at ~10:20 PM post and was showing him a product on my laptop (we were about to leave and then suddenly realised that I missed showing him the product) [sic]” said Sanghvi in his post on X.
‘Had my friend not known Kannada, things would have been different’
The cop who was earlier ‘hostile’ with the two, changed his behavior as soon as one of them started replying in Kannada, said Sanghvi in his post.
“He was hostile at first but my friend reverted to him in kannada and asked him that on what grounds/law was he asking us these things. The cop immediately changed the tone, apologised and asked us to carry on,” the post read further.
“I’m pretty sure things would have been otherwise different had my friend not known kannada,” he added.
While calling out at the “uncalled harassment” Sanghvi said that he is always ready to support local culture and willing to learn local languages. He also said that such instances defeat the whole purpose and “puts everyone who’s doing their bit to promote the local culture in a very bad light.”
Bengaluru police react
His post drew massive reaction from social media users including Bengaluru police which asked for further detail about the incident from Sanghvi. It also asked him to share his contact details so that they can process the matter further.
Netizens react to Sanghvi’s post
Several users supported Sanghvi’s opinion, while many other came in favour of the cop and justified his inquiry at night.
“Not sure if you’re aware but that road actually has an underground dance bar. Near Rice Bowl, which is slightly ahead of where you were sitting. The cops have good reason to be very extra vigilant at night time esp on that street [sic],” wrote a user on the post.
“Honestly, I don’t get it. You’re saying things went fine because your friend spoke Kannada, but I think it was more about how the situation was handled. If you’d both stayed calm and polite, I’m pretty sure the outcome would’ve been the same, even without knowing the language,” commented another user.
“Moved to Mumbai and refreshingly everything works (water, power, rickshaws, public transport, services) and no language jingoism, though if you know Marathi it does help but mostly everyone defaults to Hindi. Weather sure is not as good, but the infrastructure that is being built is world class [sic],” commented another user.
“Rooting for the GIFT city to grow soon. BLR is turning into some messy place to work [sic],”
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