Airtel slammed on Twitter for giving in to 'bigotry' after woman refuses to interact with Muslim executive, carrier denies charge

Telecom company Airtel landed in a Twitter controversy on Monday evening after a woman posted that she did not want to interact with a customer resolution officer as he was a Muslim. In response to this tweet, a man named Gaganjot took the conversation forward, leading many to accuse the company of not standing up to 'bigotry.'

Following the conversation, many people expressed outrage, saying that they wanted to quit their Airtel connection.

Earlier, the woman — Pooja Singh — posted a complaint on Twitter about 'misbehaviour' by a service engineer over the phone. Responding to this, a man named Shoaib posted a standard response. However, Singh subsequently tweeted —

Subsequently, Airtel tweeted —

Many social media users referred to the telecom company's response as an example of succumbing to bigotry. Others took to lampooning Singh, questioning if she would stop using fuel from Muslim-majority countries.

Some Twitter users said that they wanted to quit their Airtel connections —

The company subsequently issued another response to Singh, in which it stated, "Dear Pooja, at Airtel, we absolutely do not differentiate between customers, employees and partners on the basis of caste or religion. We would urge you to do the same. Both Shoaib and Gaganjot are part of our customer resolution team. If any customer contacts us for an ongoing service issue then the first available service executive responds in the interest of time. On your query, we will get back to you as soon as there is an update."

Cartoon by Manjul.

Further, the company said in a statement to the media, "We request everyone not to misinterpret and give it unnecessary religious colour. The said customer has been responded to.”

Speaking to Firstpost, an Airtel spokesperson said, "The first tweet (posted by Shoaib) was a standard response. As per procedure, if a customer is not happy with a resolution officer, another person takes over. We are not pandering to anyone's religious biases."

With inputs from Sulekha Nair