Viral Video: ‘This is not Mumbai’ — Bengaluru man schools another for not learning Kannada in 12 years

A man in Bengaluru was schooled for not knowing Kannada despite living in the Karnataka city for 12 years. While waiting in line at a petrol pump, the man was told by another man that he must know Kannada.

“You have to respect every culture and language,” a man could heard saying in the video. He told the another man, “You want a job here, salary here, but don't want the language.”

"You don't know Kannada?...because you have to learn, right? You have to respect every culture, every language... for the last 12 years, you have been living here. You don't know Kannada," the Bengaluru man asked.

Another man, who was being schooled, said, "There's no necessity." Following which, he was asked, "Then why are you staying here?"

"At least learn this [Kannada language]. This is Bengaluru, not Mumbai or Gujarat...," the man went on to say. A video of the incident went viral on Thursday. Mint could not verify the authenticity of the video.

Social media reactions

Responding to the video, a social media user questioned, "I shifted 6 months back .. am I safe from this?" Another said, “Who the hell you are ask us to learn Kannada. Its none of your business. It’s our wish whether to learn or not. You don’t have any right to make it mandatory. Its not an arrogance, its his wish. You stay in AP or Telangana and we never force you to learn Telugu Language. This is India not Afghanistan.”

Another user posted on X, "He lives in Karnataka and earns in Karnataka... So he pays taxes also to Karnataka, not his home state. Of all non-Kannadigas leave Bengaluru then half of the city will starve to death."

"Why should he learn? Is forcing to learn language the new criteria to move to different state. The language jingoistic people just want to harass outsiders. Not everyone is keen to learn different language because they are too much other responsibilities," said another X user.