'U are in Karnataka, learn Kannada': Pic with message written on auto goes viral

Bengaluru: A user on Twitter has shared a picture of an autorickshaw with an inappropriate message written on it, stating that everyone should know Kannada if they are in the state and not show "attitude" as they come to "beg" there.

A user named Roshan Rai shared the now-viral post on Twitter.

The post included a photo of the auto with a message written on the back, saying: "U are in Karnataka, learn (Kannada). Don’t show attitude U f***r. U come to beg here".

"This is Xenophobia of the highest order. Regional pride cannot be used as a justification for treating people from other states as 3rd class citizens," Rai tweeted.

The post drew a lot of attention online, and social media users were outraged.

In the comments section, people collectively slammed the auto driver. "This is unacceptable," a user wrote. Another user commented: "Well, I won’t learn Kannada. You can easily manage with knowing just Hindi in Bangalore. If you don’t want to do business with me then it is your loss. This auto driver will lose more customers because of his hostile attitude."

However, some users also supported the sentiments of the message. "If you go to work in Germany, you'll learn German. Same way if you work here you have to learn to communicate in Kannada," a user said. "Well, you haven’t seen the entitlement that Hindi speakers have," another user mentioned.

In March, a video of an argument between a three-wheeler driver and passenger, insisting each other to use their native languages, went viral across social media platforms.

"NorthIndians-Beggar, Our Land These are the words used by this auto driver and this is not the only mentality of this driver but of all of these peoples. Being proud to be from Karnataka and its pride is wholly different from forcing other to speak Kannada," the user wrote in the post.