We didn’t bow down to a discriminatory request: Airtel on tweet row

Airtel, the country’s top telecom operator, has tried to clear the air after a controversy over a customer making communal overtones in a tweet, stressing that it did not bow down to a discriminatory request.

On Monday, Airtel customer Pooja Singh made a complaint about her DTH connection on social networking site Twitter. An Airtel representative, Shoaib, replied that the company would get back to her shortly with more information.

Singh demanded that a Hindu representative be assigned to resolve the problem. As the next available representative happened to be a non-Muslim, many Twitter users alleged Airtel bowed down because of a bigoted customer. But Airtel has clarified that this is not true.

In its response, Airtel said it did not re-assign the advisor because of the customer’s request. “At Airtel, we never have and never will succumb to differentiating on the basis of religion, ethnicity or caste,” it said on Twitter.

Airtel said it was still trying to wrap its head around how one colleague responding on behalf of another was interpreted as its ‘acceptance of discrimination’.

“The fact that Shoaib wasn’t logged in and the Ganganjot took up the case got read as ‘bowing down to bigotry’. The fact that Gaganjot didn’t check his colleague’s religious identity before taking up the case got read as ‘heeding to a discriminatory request’,” the company said.

According to Airtel, in case of a customer reaching out to an advisor who is busy, the query automatically gets assigned to the next available representative to minimize response time.

“Which is exactly what happened with Shoaib and Gaganjot…the world was watching and reading into this from a very different lens,” Airtel said.

The telco said the whole episode had taught a harsh lesson to Shoaib and Gaganjot that their religious identity mattered.

“That they should check identity before taking up the responsibility of a service request. Maybe from here on, they will. However, we will resist that. Strongly. We promise you that we will try our best to let them stay innocent and bereft of religious considerations in the path of their duty,” Airtel said.