A Bengaluru warehouse shift manager has been booked after allegedly telling Kannada-speaking workers to learn Hindi or leave their jobs, triggering a protest outside the facility and an apology from the accused, police said.
The incident took place at a storehouse in Madanayakanahalli near Nelamangala that is rented by Zomato. The manager, identified as 31-year-old Ashok Muttayy of Malapalli in Andhra Pradesh, allegedly made the remarks during a workplace dispute last week, according to the police account reported by the Times of India.
The dispute began when Ashok took a few workers to task over an official issue. Some workers then asked him to speak in Kannada, saying they could not understand him. In a video recorded by one of the workers and later circulated widely, Ashok is heard saying that he did not know Kannada and spoke only Hindi. He allegedly told the workers and other staff members to learn Hindi if they wanted to continue working with him, or leave.
The reported exchange has placed the language dynamics of Bengaluru’s expanding logistics and warehouse workforce at the centre of a workplace dispute. Warehouses serving food delivery and e-commerce operations bring together employees from different parts of India, but the report does not indicate that the facility had a stated language policy governing communication between managers and workers.
As the video spread, a group of Kannada activists gathered outside the warehouse on Sunday and demanded action against the manager. Police said they registered a suo motu case and filed a petition against Ashok. The police account did not specify the legal provisions under which the case was registered.
Following police intervention, Ashok apologised, according to the report. The available account does not establish whether the workers faced any employment action, whether Zomato has initiated an internal inquiry, or whether the company has issued a public statement on the incident. It also does not specify the outcome of the police proceedings.
The case highlights how language disputes can quickly become an operational and governance issue in Bengaluru workplaces, particularly when communication affects workers’ ability to understand instructions. The immediate official action reported so far is the police case, followed by the manager’s apology.
