Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal reinstates agent who was fired after controversy
Food delivery platform and restaurant aggregator Zomato on Tuesday landed in controversy after a customer care agent of the company said that “everyone should know a little bit Hindi” and added that it is “our national language”.
Hindi and English in Devanagari script are the official languages of India, while 22 languages are included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
Following a tweet by a customer, which goes by the handle ‘@Vikash67456607’, triggered a huge Twitter backlash with trending hashtags like #Reject_Zomato, #StopHindiImposition and #Hindi_Theriyathu_Poda, the company issued a public apology in English and Tamil. Of. for diversity.
The company also said it had terminated the agent for “negligent disregard for our diverse culture.”
However, Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal later took to Twitter to inform about the company’s decision to reinstate the employee, saying that she should not have been fired over the issue and “she can learn and do better going forward.” can do”.
Commenting on the outrage on social media over the issue, Mr Goyal said that the country needs a higher tolerance level than before.
“Someone’s unintentional mistake at a food delivery company’s help center became a national issue. The level of tolerance and coolness in our country must be much higher than it is today. Who is to blame here?” he asked.
“And remember, our call center agents are young people, who are at the beginning of their learning curve and career. They are not experts in languages and regional sentiments. Neither am I, btw,” added Mr. Goel, Zomato’s Defending young workers.
Earlier, Vikas had tweeted that he had ordered food using the Zomato app and complained that an item was missing.
“The customer care says that the amount cannot be refunded as I did not know Hindi. I also learn that as an Indian I should know Hindi. Tagged me false because he didn’t know Tamil. @zomato the way you talk to a customer,” he tweeted and tagged the company, while sharing a screenshot of his purported chat with a customer care agent.
After the tweet went viral, several Twitter users, including some political leaders from Tamil Nadu, pulled up the company for allegedly imposing Hindi.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP Kanimozhi demanded that companies provide customer services in local languages.
“Some companies’ customer service only works in select languages. It should be made mandatory for companies to serve their customers in their local language. A customer does not need to know Hindi or English. #Hindi_Theriyathu_Poda,” she wrote on Twitter.
A user with the handle @Iamdrgautham said, “@zomato @zomatocare Hindi is the official language of the central government. Not the national language of India. If you are providing service in TN, then your customer care executive should have knowledge of Tamil language. You provide service to the customer and you get paid for it. Don’t teach the customer to learn.”
Another person named Handel, @muthucr09565211, said, “India is special because it has many people from different languages and cultures together in the same country. If you can’t respect other languages or cultures, don’t call yourself an Indian. #HindiIsNotNationalLanguage @zomato #Reject_Zomato.”
Some users also said that they have uninstalled the Zomato app from their mobiles.
This is not the first time that Zomato has attracted controversies.
In April this year, an influencer named Hitesh Accused on Zomato delivery man Kamaraj was accused of assault after a dispute over late delivery. However, within a few days, Mr. Kamaraj refuted her claim, saying that it was Ms. Hitesh who had abused and killed her. An FIR was registered against both.
In 2019, Zomato faced a controversy on communal grounds after a man from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh A Muslim refused to accept his food delivered by the delivery valet. The client also threatened to raise the issue with his lawyer with the username Pandit Amit Shukla. In response, Zomato tweeted, ‘Food has no religion. It is a religion.” It received widespread support for its stand from netizens as well as rival companies.
(with inputs from PTI)
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