There were also several people who slammed the MP for writing in English, asking him to post in Kannada if he "loved the language so much".
Published May 22, 2025 | 1:23 PM ⚊ Updated May 23, 2025 | 10:05 PM
File photo of BJP MP Tejasvi Surya. (Supplied)
Synopsis: Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya has been facing the wrath of the “nationalist army”, who allege that he insulted the “national language”, Hindi, after he stated that banks must ensure their staff in Karnataka are familiar with Kannada.
For years, the Sangh Parivar has been nurturing an online troll army of self-proclaimed “nationalists” to carry out massive cyberbullying against anyone who criticises the policies of the BJP government or the saffron parties in general. Several individuals have been branded as anti-nationals merely for opposing the Sangh Parivar’s perspective of what nationalism is.
For nearly a decade now, this “nationalist army” has been growing in numbers, swarming to attack those who dare to speak even a single word against their parties, especially the BJP, their ideologies, or their leaders.
However, one of them, someone who has enjoyed the patronage of an ecosystem that silences opposing voices, is now stewing in its own juice —Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya.
After the viral video of a State Bank of India (SBI) manager refusing to speak Kannada drew sharp reactions, Surya has been facing the wrath of the “nationalist army”, who allege that he insulted the “national language”, Hindi.
Surya highlighted the difficulties that people of Karnataka face due to the bank staff not knowing Kannada and urged the SBI to follow the Union government’s policy of posting staff who are familiar with the local language.
However, his post drew critical reactions, terming him a Kannada radical and going further, even asking him to leave the BJP.
Surya said many customers in Karnataka face difficulty, especially in rural areas, if the bank staff do not understand Kannada.
“Many bank customers, especially in rural Karnataka, face extreme difficulty when banking staff – those that have a public interface – don’t communicate in local language. This is an issue faced by millions of customers in many states. After we raised this issue at multiple forums, including Parliament, GOI Dept of Financial Services reviewed their transfer policy,” he wrote on X.
“According to this policy, banks are directed to accommodate officers up to Scale-Ill in their respective linguistic region in order to ensure seamless customer service. How do large public sector banks which have a duty to serve customers, especially senior citizens and rural communities, not understand that serving them in the language they understand is most essential, especially in a sector as trust inspiring as banking?” he asked.
“Urge @TheOfficialSBI to follow the directions of GOI in letter and spirit,” he added.
Earlier, he had criticised the bank manager for refusing to speak in Kannada or to learn the language.
“This behaviour by @TheOfficialSBI Branch Manager is simply not acceptable. If you are doing customer interface work in Karnataka, especially in a sector like banking , it is important to communicate to customers in the language they know. Being adamant like this is simply not right,” he had said.
Many bank customers, especially in rural Karnataka, face extreme difficulty when banking staff – those that have a public interface – don’t communicate in local language. This is an issue faced by millions of customers in many states.
After we raised this issue at multiple… https://t.co/msr6azNuFf pic.twitter.com/juFQyNq8uj
— Tejasvi Surya (@Tejasvi_Surya) May 21, 2025
Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj, a person who claims to be a men’s rights activist, criticised the MP for raising the issues of the constituency and the people he represents.
“You’re a people’s representative, not Kannada representative. There are people speaking in Kannada over there as evident in video but this customer is creating scene unnecessarily. Banking is a transferable job. How can someone posted there from outside learn Kannada? How many languages will people have to learn then ? A translator can be requested if someone can’t speak anything but native language but on what account are u asking for action against the officer?” she wrote on X.
His demand was termed an action against Hindi. “You cannot become a leader or a leader of India by insulting Hindi. Hindi should be known by everyone in the country. You are proving that you have also become a Congressman!” wrote a person on X in Hindi
Another X user tagged Prime Minster Narendra Modi and demanded to remove “English-speaking South Indian politicians” from party posts.
“I would appeal to the Bharatiya Janata Party that these English speaking leaders from the South should not be given the responsibility of the Yuva Morcha of the entire country, they should be restricted to the Southern states only, in the Hindi belt, such people speaking in English creates problems in the party’s work, @narendramodi,” the user wrote on X in Hindi, which was echoed by several others as well.
“Don’t break India in the name of your leadership. Don’t spread linguism. People of Karnataka will have to learn the Indian language, Hindi.
Karnataka is in India. India is not in Karnataka. We will not tolerate any insult to Hindi or Hindi speakers,” wrote another user in Hindi.
“A person who wrote at english they demand for kannada .. @JPNadda @narendramodi @AmitShah we are bjp supporter we not need this type of leader who force for speak language .. if tejsavi come gujarat he speak at Gujarati? GO AT jammu so speak Kashmiri? Such a law level thoughts,” wrote another person.
There were also several people who slammed the MP for writing in English, asking him to post in Kannada if he “loved the language so much”.
Meanwhile, several others used obcene language, which cannot be used in public discourse, to show their anger against the MP.
“BJP is better off without such regional bigots. Just because there is an incident doesn’t mean everyone has to jump in and expose themselves. Tejasvi Surya is a disappointment overall,” wrote one X user.
However, there were also people who supported the MP saying that his demand was just.
“Not a fan of Language chauvinism.. but 👇100% Agree. My helpers (who know only kannada) who have accounts in rural karnataka face huge problems if the bank staff is not conversant with kannada.. I do not understand why folks are targeting Tejasvi for highlighting this problem,” wrote an X user.
“Not sure why people criticize @Tejasvi_Surya if a government employee who is directly dealing with an end user can’t serve in the local language, it is an issue. This is mandatory law in many countries. (Very different from other cases),” wrote another person.
Meanwhile, a person highlighted the lack of Kannada on loan agreement issued by national banks in Karnataka and said people who don’t understand English or Hindi would need to sign those without fully comprehending the terms and conditions.
“I recently applied for a vehicle loan in Bangalore. The entire loan agreement was only in Hindi & English. It took me about 1.5 hr to understand it properly. How is a local Kannadiga who is not familiar in English expected to understand & sign?” the user asked.
