Sonu Nigam lashes out at media amid Kannada language controversy: 'How many times have I...'

Playback singer Sonu Nigam is lashed out at the media after a publication falsely quoted him over the language row. The singer took to his Instagram on Thursday, and shared screenshots, which show his imposter account on social media engaging with Tejasvi Surya, Member of the Lok Sabha from Bengaluru.

In the screenshot, the imposter account of the singer on X, formerly Twitter, can be seen engaging in a spat with Tejasvi’s opinion.  Tejasvi Surya had written, “This behaviour by @TheOfficialSBI Branch Manager is simply not acceptable. If you are doing customer interface work in Karnataka, especially in a sector like banking , it is important to communicate to customers in the language they know. Being adamant like this is simply not right. I have time and again raised this issue of mandatorily posting local staff or staff who know the local language in banking operations, both inside and outside Parliament”.

He added, “Just a few weeks ago, at a Public Accounts Committee meeting, I had raised this issue to the DFS Secretary who assured me action will be taken to follow a office notification that makes this requirement of local language knowledge compulsory. Looks like this still isn’t being enforced properly. I urge the concerned at @TheOfficialSBI to immediately implement the DFS policy that mandates local language requirement. I have spoken to concerned authorities to take action against this manager who has behaved in this manner. Banks working in Karnataka should serve customers in Kannada. Period”.

Sonu’s imposter account wrote in response, “Don't dub Kannada movies in Hindi! Don't release Kannada movies pan-India! Do you have the guts to say this to Kannada film stars, Mr. @Tejasvi_Surya , or you are just another language warrior?”.

The media house quoted the imposter’s tweet, which were slammed by Sonu, as he accused the media house of wrongly attributing the tweet to him when he has clarified numerous times in the past that he is not on X. Slamming the media house, the singer wrote, “Are you Out of your mind? How many times have I declared I am not on Twitter? Spreading misinformation on my name is only going to poison the minds of people who have loved me so much all these years. Not everyone will have the sense to fact check your news. I'm truly done with this country's desperate and brutal Media. Shame”.

Earlier, Sonu had lashed out at a person from Bengaluru, who asked him to sing Kannada songs as well during his stage performance in the Silicon Valley of India. Following the incident, the singer had issued a clarification in the light of allegations against him for making provocative statements, and hurting the sentiments of Kannadigas. This came after an FIR was filed against the singer at the Avalahalli Police Station in Bengaluru.

The complaint alleged that the singer had made an objectionable statement, saying, “Kannada, Kannada, Kannada, this is exactly why the incident happened in Pahalgam”, as he referenced the recent terrorist attack that occurred in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, where 26 tourists were killed. Sonu, on his part, took to his Instagram, and issued a clarification as he said that there were only 3-4 fringe elements in the crowd, and other people in the audience were very respectful. He said that such people need to be dealt with strongly.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DNA staff and is published from IANS)