Telugu flyer forced to change seat for not knowing English or Hindi; sparks language row

At a time when discussions and debates are on in the country about the significance of regional languages and the dominance of the English language, an incident from the southern part of the country has added fresh fuel to it. A Twitter user recently shared a piece of news claiming that a Telugu-speaking woman passenger was forced to change her seat in a flight because she did not know English or Hindi. The post further added that the passenger who originally had an XL seat in the exit row was forced to change to seat 3C due to a ‘safety issue’ as cited by a flight attendee. It was on an Indigo flight from Vijayawada to Hyderabad where the incident took place. Giving details about the incident, Twitter user Devasmita Chakraverty in her post added, “If unhappy, we (not she) should complain. No dignity, non-Hindi treated as second class citizens in their own state.” She also shared a picture from the flight showing the female passenger. Check out her tweet:

In a series of tweets, Chakraverty went on to express her disappointment over the incident and called it “unacceptable and problematic” as she claimed that the flight staff’s behaviour amounted to discrimination toward non-Hindi speakers under the garb of security. The user also pointed out the practice adopted by Emirates and other international airlines stating that they use both English as well as regional languages for instructions and communications, while Indian airlines fail to do so. Mentioning Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia in her tweet, Chakraverty  demanded a resolution in the matter further calling it a “matter of safety, dignity, and treating everyone equally.” Meanwhile, the incident triggered a debate on social media. While a section of people went on to slam Indigo airlines for promoting discrimination toward non-English/Hindi speakers, some pointed out the importance of ’exit rows’ stating that in case of emergencies, people seated in the row should be able to communicate to everyone for evacuation purposes. Here are some of the reactions:

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Hindi and english are the official languages of India.Crew is bound to know these languages, and apart from this if they know a 3rd language, it's an added advantage.Incase of emergency the crew is only supposed to give instructions in these 2 languages which is widely understood

— Nikhil K S (@Nikhil_K_S79) September 20, 2022

If the crew cannot communicate with majority inside the flight due to local language issue, isn't that a major security issues in emergency. Why local language speaking crew is not being posted?

— Dr Prasanna Thirunavukkarasu மரு. பிரசன்னா (@drsansthoughts) September 17, 2022

Emergency door operation instructions were being delivered languages which the passenger didn't speak. By changing seats, they ensured that every passenger in that line was aware of how to operate it. Hence security issue addressed.

— Baru (@barucracy) September 18, 2022

It also invoked reactions from certain political leaders including Telangana IT Minister KT Rama Rao and Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra. While KTR requested the airlines to respect local languages and passengers, he also asked them to recruit more staff who can speak local languages.

Dear @IndiGo6E Management, I request you to start respecting local languages & passengers who may not be well conversant in English or Hindi

In regional routes, recruit more staff who can speak the local language like Telugu, Tamil, Kannada etc. This will be a win-win solution https://t.co/GbJGi5nl0W

— KTR (@KTRBRS) September 18, 2022

TMC leader Mahua Moitra tweeted in support of KTR adding that European flights have attendants who are native language speakers.

I agree @KTRTRS. Short haul European flights ex London all have attendants who are native language speakers.

— Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) September 18, 2022

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