Woman asks for 'Hindu' representative from Airtel, Twitter divided
Telecom giant Airtel landed in a bit of a soup on Monday evening after it accepted a woman’s outrageous request for a Hindu customer service person.
The woman posted on Twitter that she did not want to interact with a customer resolution officer as he was a Muslim. In response to this tweet, a man named Gaganjot took the conversation forward, leading many to accuse the company of not standing up to 'bigotry.'
The exchange on Twitter soon saw users getting enraged including former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who said he wouldn't "pay another penny to the company".
Hey, I most definitely appreciate you reaching out here! We’ll take a closer look into that & get back shortly with more information. Thank you, Shoaib
— Bharti Airtel India (@Airtel_Presence) June 18, 2018
Hi Pooja! As discussed, please let me know what days & time frames work best for you so we can talk. Further, please share an alternate number so that I can assist you further with this. Thank you, Gaganjot
— Bharti Airtel India (@Airtel_Presence) June 18, 2018
Airtel, responding to the angry posts, said in a statement: "We absolutely do not differentiate between customers, employees and partners on the basis of caste or religion."
The woman, Pooja Singh, whose Twitter handle declares her to be a management professional and a ‘Proud Indian’ and a ‘Proud Hindu’ had earlier complained about a service engineer. Within minutes the tweet conversation went viral.
Actress Gauahar Khan was seen responding to Singh's tweet,
Be careful! Pls see your ophthalmologist soon !! U are blinded by hatred !!! U couldn’t even spell his name right in a reply, !! N it’s the Quran BTW !! Agar nafrat se dimaag nahi kharaab hua hota toh shayad education mein basic spellings toh pata hi hoti!! 😡ðŸ˜
— Gauahar Khan (@GAUAHAR_KHAN) June 18, 2018
Another user Mehek, could not help but troll Pooja for her baseless comments,
Pooja is so Hindu, she doesn't use Petrol/diesel in her car as it comes from Muslim countries, runs it only on Gobargas.
— Mehek (@MehekF) June 18, 2018
And Twitter users did not spare Airtel either,
Hey Gaganjot... Mark this Tweet... now that ur company has given into racial bigotry i shall port my number outta Airtel and make sure atleast 25 of my friends to d same to.. shall forward numbers i helped port soon.. GOOD LUCK
— Girish Khubani (@girishkhubani) June 18, 2018
Arun Srinranga tweeted,
Hi guys. Can you please let me know how to initiate the closure of my Airtel broadband account ? I can't use services provided by a firm which can't stand up to bigotry!
— Arun Sriranga (@Arun_Sriranga) June 18, 2018
Omar Abdullah too could not hide his outrage at Twitter's response,
Dear @Airtel_Presence this conversation is genuine (I’ve seen the timeline myself). I refuse to pay another penny to a company that condones such blatant bigotry. I’m beginning the process of porting my number to another service provider & canceling my DTH & Broadband. pic.twitter.com/BZxJOaEsN6
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) June 18, 2018
However, that was not all, soon after Pooja posted her views, several people threatened her of dire consequences.
More you abuse, more I will be proved RIGHT! pic.twitter.com/QpiWQKs35Q
— Pooja Singh 🇮🇳 (@pooja303singh) June 19, 2018
Twitter users were soon divided with Pooja's revelation through screenshots and were supporting her for her views.
One Shweta Singh posted her support for Pooja,
Disgusting!Why the hell only jihadis & libtards r entitled to FOE. It is her life,her choice. Who the hell r these bast**ds to give her rape threats for FOE. #ISupportPoojaSingh To hell with secularism where a woman is abused on a silly tweet. Go abuse ur mothers moron jihadis. https://t.co/EZgFJ1gRRz
— 🇮🇳 Shweta Singh (@swetassingh1) June 19, 2018
And more followed soon after.
#ISupportPoojaSingh
— Shailen Pratap Singh (@shailen_pratap) June 19, 2018
More Power to u @pooja303singh
Keep fighting these morons.... We all are with u by all means.
Stay Sharp & Strong.
The Skin Doctor felt that her plight too should be highlighted equally,
A girl asked Airtel for a non Muslim executive. She was called bigoted & Islamophobic. Eminent journos gave opinion. Democracy & world peace came under threat.
— THE SKIN DOCTOR (@theskindoctor13) June 19, 2018
Girl is now getting filthy r*pe threats from MusIims. No takers in Media. Not secular enough? Well deserved threats?
@pooja303singh You're right and you did nothing wrong that you need to be ashamed of or worry about.
— Shraddha / शà¥à¤°à¤¦à¥à¤§à¤¾ 🇮🇳 (@immortalsoulIN) June 19, 2018
Those libtards calling you Anti-Muslim bigot, are themselves Islamofacsists.
Stay Strong !#ISupportPoojaSingh
Following the Twitter to and fro, Pooja herself issued a statement for everyone,
Kind Request And Statement 🙠pic.twitter.com/qUiMG4Lg05
— Pooja Singh 🇮🇳 (@pooja303singh) June 19, 2018
And a businessman opined, "Whn @aamir_khan 's wife feel insecure in country and a particular community feel danger in nation thn its ok But if a hindu girl @pooja303singh shows no faith in particulr community prsn is bigotry!"
Dear toilet group wht is bigotry in it? Whn @aamir_khan 's wife feel insecure in country and a particular community feel danger in nation thn its ok But if a hindu girl @pooja303singh shows no faith in particulr community prsn is bigotry!
— Vishweshwar / Nikhil (@nikhildadhich) June 19, 2018
May be she hd thousands of reasns 4 ths pic.twitter.com/rMDsBnr09W
