KT Rama Rao, popularly known as KTR, the Telangana minister for Information Technology, asked Indigo airlines in a tweet to start respecting local languages. 

His remark at Indigo came after it was reported that a woman, who was seated in the emergency exit seat on the Vijaywada to Hyderabad route (6E7297) flight, was forced to switch seats because she only spoke Telugu. 

The flight only had safety instructions in English, and since the woman could not understand any other language except Telugu, it was flagged as a ‘security issue’ by the attendant and she was made to switch seats. The incident was first tweeted by Devasmita Chakraverty, Assistant Professor of Education at IIM Ahmedabad, who was also traveling on the same flight. 

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“Dear @IndiGo6E Management, I request you to start respecting local languages & passengers who may not be well conversant in English or Hindi,” KTR tweeted. 

As a word of advice to Indio airlines, the minister added, “In regional routes, recruit more staff who can speak the local language like Telugu, Tamil, Kannada etc. This will be a win-win solution”. 

Language has been a major point of contention between the north and south Indian states. Accusations of Hindi being imposed from New Delhi have historically been a major point of contention for the states in the south, and the issue has often led to resistance. 

After the incident was reported by the IIM Ahmedabad professor, many people on Twitter commented that it was in fact a safety issue and not linguistic discrimination. Others pointed out that India has several regional languages, and it’s difficult to have flight instructions in all of them. 

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Chakraverty, in her post, tagged Jyotiraditya Scindia, the minister of Civil Aviation, and wrote, “I am looking up to you to resolve this at a systemic level. As policy, safety instructions should be available in all language & used as per need, not just in English/Hindi. It’s a matter of safety, dignity, & treating everyone equally. Hope you’ll do the right thing” 

However, neither Indigo airlines nor the minister issued any response.