Telugu Woman Moved From Emergency Exit Seat For Not Knowing Hindi

Language discrimination has always prevailed in our society, no matter how hard we try to ignore it. A Telugu woman who was travelling by an IndiGo flight was asked to switch her seat at the row next to the emergency exit as she only spoke Telugu.

Anger Wtf GIF by Eledraws (Eleonore Bem) - Find & Share on GIPHY

A Twitter user named Devasmita Chakraverty narrated the incident on her account. She wrote:

Indigo 6E 7297. Vijayawada (AP) to Hyderabad (Telangana), Sept 16-2022. The woman in green originally sitting in 2A (XL seat, exit row) was forced to seat 3C because she understood only Telugu, not English/Hindi. The attendant said it’s a security issue.

You can read the entire post here:

https://twitter.com/DevasmitaTweets/status/1571014493693681665?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1571014493693681665%7Ctwgr%5E40fd98ab7f13e962520792014552adcd37b8c318%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thequint.com%2Fsouth-india%2Ftelugu-woman-moved-from-emergency-exit-seat-for-not-knowing-hindi-english

The tweet has gone viral and has prompted a lot of conversation about language discrimination in India. Have a look:

Shouldn’t they ask the appropriate questions before they sell specific seats? We forget we are paying extra for these!
— Sucheta Dalal (@suchetadalal) September 18, 2022

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

A flight going from one Telugu state to another. Not a single flight attendant speaks Telugu. Is it not a security issue if the crew can’t communicate effectively in the language passengers understand, especially during emergencies?! https://t.co/PRON3NIZBK
— Karteek ☕️ Java Capital (@Tweet_KP) September 20, 2022

https://twitter.com/lazychronicler/status/1571955082660552705?s=20&t=PtCH3lLJ_xz1x7x1-5OF1w

Such a shame @IndiGo6E not. Only do u need to apologize but refund her ticket amount. This is shameful. https://t.co/xcwLCDJdPY
— Prajwal (social worker & activist) working at SAP (@ugly_goodbad) September 19, 2022

https://twitter.com/deepsealioness/status/1571869552459534337?s=20&t=PtCH3lLJ_xz1x7x1-5OF1w

To be very blunt this is a violation of linguistic and human rights. Laws pertaining to Customer Service are not firm when it comes to Language aspect, something that cannot be ignored. Airlines must serve in the language of the state. #ServeInMyLanguage https://t.co/LErzNRMuBx
— ನೇಸರಬೆಟ್ಟಳಿಯ (@nesarabettaliya) September 19, 2022

https://twitter.com/BumpAhead/status/1571596063991300097?s=20&t=PtCH3lLJ_xz1x7x1-5OF1w

What are your views on this?

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