Telecom giant Airtel faced a storm on social media last month when they allegedly bowed down to bigotry. A Twitter user @pooja303singh, tweeted to Airtel asking for a different customer care representative when a Muslim executive responded to her query.
@airtelindia pathetic Airtel DTH customer service.I raised complaint for reinstallation of DHT.but assigned service engineer miss behaved with me. His words are "Tum Phone Rakho Dobara call mt krna " his number is+91 79-85195094. This is how Airtel is looting it's customer.
— Pooja Singh
(@pooja303singh) June 18, 2018
(@pooja303singh) Hey, I most definitely appreciate you reaching out here! We’ll take a closer look into that & get back shortly with more information. Thank you, Shoaib
— Bharti Airtel India (@Airtel_Presence) June 18, 2018
Dear Shohaib, as you’re a Muslim and I have no faith in your working ethics because Kuran may have different version for customer service, thus requesting you to assign a Hindu representative for my request. Thanks
— Pooja Singh
(@pooja303singh) June 18, 2018
The next response she received was from a customer care operative named Gaganjot. It appeared that Airtel had given in to Singh’s bigoted demand.
Hi Pooja! As discussed, please let me know what days & time frames work best for you so we can talk. Further, please share an alternate number so that I can assist you further with this. Thank you, Gaganjot
— Bharti Airtel India (@Airtel_Presence) June 18, 2018
Many Twitter users, including public figures, called Airtel out over this incident.
Dear @Airtel_Presence this conversation is genuine (I’ve seen the timeline myself). I refuse to pay another penny to a company that condones such blatant bigotry. I’m beginning the process of porting my number to another service provider & canceling my DTH & Broadband. pic.twitter.com/BZxJOaEsN6
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) June 18, 2018
Be careful! Pls see your ophthalmologist soon !! U are blinded by hatred !!! U couldn’t even spell his name right in a reply, !! N it’s the Quran BTW !! Agar nafrat se dimaag nahi kharaab hua hota toh shayad education mein basic spellings toh pata hi hoti!!
— Gauahar Khan (@GAUAHAR_KHAN) June 18, 2018
Wow! You sure know how to make us Indians look awful through your bigoted lenses. Bravo!
I would suspend your connection permanently if I were @Airtel_Presence https://t.co/Fc5bpU2NTt— Shruti Seth (@SethShruti) June 18, 2018
Some Twitter users even got aggressive and started abusing and threatening Singh.
Dear Abusers,
I simply made a request to change representative from Muslim to Hindu as my experience in past was not good and that’s my right as well. After that, the kind of abuse I’m facing are beyond imagination and that in itself PROVES that I was right at very first place
pic.twitter.com/lcCH2QpKo1
— Pooja Singh
(@pooja303singh) June 18, 2018
More you abuse, more I will be proved RIGHT! pic.twitter.com/QpiWQKs35Q
— Pooja Singh
(@pooja303singh) June 19, 2018
We should condemn Singh’s bigoted tweets, but that doesn’t give anyone permission to abuse her relentlessly. After his initial tweet, Omar Abdullah tweeted again to request people to not resort to abuse in such an incident since it would not solve anything.
I hold no brief for the bigoted Airtel customer but those of you flooding her timeline with hate & abuse are as bad, if not worse, than her. If you can’t occupy the high ground it’s best to exit the ground altogether.
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) June 19, 2018
Airtel eventually clarified through a press release that the change in representative was not a deliberate move to appease a bigoted request but simply a matter of two representatives working a shift and one not being available at the time.
Did Airtel really bow down to a discriminatory request? Maybe you should read this. pic.twitter.com/Mr7b8Pgrci
— airtel India (@airtelindia) June 20, 2018
We can’t expect everyone to be sensitive and inclusive but that doesn’t mean we can abuse anyone for holding certain views and then expect them to change immediately. After Airtel’s clarification, I feel we should leave Pooja Singh alone.
The post Twitter Comes Down Heavily On Woman Who Asked Airtel For A ‘Hindu Representative’ appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz and is a copyright of the same. Please do not republish.