Telangana minister KTR asks IndiGo to respect local languages

Hyderabad, Sep 19 Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) working president K.T. Rama Rao has asked IndiGo to respect local languages after a woman was allegedly made to shift from her seat on a flight because she understood only Telugu.

Rama Rao was reacting to an incident which occurred on the Vijayawada-Hyderabad IndiGo flight on September 16.

Devasmita Chakraverty, an assistant professor of education at Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad tweeted that the woman aboard IndiGo 6E 7297 was originally sitting in 2A (XL seat, exit row) was forced to shift to seat 3C because she understood only Telugu, not English/Hindi. The attendant said it was a security issue

Devasmita Chakraverthy, who posted a photograph with her tweet, called the incident a discrimination. Reacting to her tweet, TRS leader and Telangana minister Rama Rao requested IndiGo management to start respecting local languages and passengers who may not be well conversant in English or Hindi in regional routes.

"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," wrote KTR, as the minister is popularly known.

KTR received support from Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra. "Short haul European flights ex London all have attendants who are native language speakers," she tweeted.

The minister's tweet sparked a debate. Some Twitter users agreed with him while others found fault for turning it into a language issue.

"This is because the persons in the exit row seats need to be extra vigilant and support in an emergency by opening the door, communicating with others etc. It is unfair to showcase it as a language issue," wrote a Twitter user Subbaraju.

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