Here's How Twitter Schooled The Woman Who Asked Airtel For A Hindu Representative!
We live in a country where the religious divide is becoming more apparent by the day. We've been hearing incidents on the news where intolerance has been on the uprise during the past few years and it is heartbreaking. Just a few days back, an Ola driver off-roaded a customer after allegedly refusing to drive through a Muslim locality and now the telecom giant Airtel is under the radar for something similar.
Airtel user Pooja Singh expressed her displeasure over how a service engineer behaved with her. Following this, a customer service representative from Bharti Airtel India got in touch with her to attend to her complaint.
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) 18 June 2018
However, Pooja didn't want to be attended by a Muslim man, so she requested the company to change Shoaib as her service provided and asked for a Hindu representative to see her complaint through. She took to Twitter again and made her stance know saying, "You’re a Muslim and I have no faith in your working ethics because Kuran may have different version for customer service."
Dear Shohaib, as you’re a Muslim and I have no faith in your working ethics because Kuran may have different version for customer service, thus requesting you to assign a Hindu representative for my request. Thanks
— Pooja Singh 🇮🇳 (@pooja303singh) 18 June 2018
To everyone's surprise, Airtel actually responded to the tweet and a Hindu representative had taken over for Shoaib. A man named Gangajot was now in-charge of Pooja's request.
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) 18 June 2018
Twitter took it upon itself to school Pooja and stop people from spreading religious bigotry. They were also infuriated with a global brand like Airtel for succumbing to this kind of intolerance and hatred. Many people spoke up against this outright Islamophobia including politicians and journalists.
Former Jammu and Kashmir CM also made his stance against Airtel.
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) 18 June 2018
The renowned journalist from NDTV Ravish Kumar also took to Twitter to stand against this.
5 घण्टे लग गए इनको 5 लाइन टाइप करने में। बहुत फ़ास्ट है एयरटेलhttps://t.co/38dFsl2yCN
— Ravish Kumar (@RavishReal) 18 June 2018
Even Gauhar Khan lashed out at Pooja.
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!! 😡😠
— Gauahar Khan (@GAUAHAR_KHAN) 18 June 2018
Tweeple even started a joke template saying, "Pooja is so Hindu" because you know Twitter, jokes are a coping mechanism!
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) 18 June 2018
Pooja is so Hindu, she doesn't use twitter cuz
Twitter's second biggest shareholder is Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal
— Firoze (@Firoze_) 18 June 2018
I feel like the first service engineer from Airtel who told Pooja not to call again was a good judge of character. They should promote him.
— Naomi Datta (@nowme_datta) 18 June 2018
Dear Pooja, I am actually just a messenger bot from Airtel. We will work well together. I am a bot. You are a blot. On humanity.
— Naomi Datta (@nowme_datta) 18 June 2018
[Finally DTH worked]
Now Pooja Singh is watching Amar, *****, Anthony.
— फुटबॉलर निशाचर (@nishacharr) 18 June 2018
Pooja Singh is on a dharna outside Kareem’s insisting they should start calling themselves Naveen.
— Ray Stings (@Purba_Ray) 18 June 2018
After all this, Airtel finally responded to the fiasco, saying that they don't discriminate on the basis of religion. In an official statement, the team responded by saying, "At Airtel, we do not differentiate between customers or our employees/partners on the basis of caste or religion. If a customer contacts us again for an ongoing service issue then the first available service executive responds in the interest of time. We request everyone not to misinterpret and give it unnecessary religious colour. The said customer has been responded to."
Dear Pooja, at Airtel, we absolutely do not differentiate between customers, employees and partners on the basis of caste or religion. We would urge you to do the same. Both Shoaib and Gaganjot are part of our customer resolution team. (cont) https://t.co/lbwhRE95vm
— Bharti Airtel India (@Airtel_Presence) 18 June 2018
Religious or racial intolerance is something that should be completely unacceptable. It's 2018 and it's high time we stop get rid of the 'them vs. us attitude'! It's easy to say let's live in harmony and peace, but maybe saying those words take us a step closer to that future.
