#Reject_Zomato trends on Twitter after app agent asks Tamil Nadu customer to 'learn Hindi'

Hours later, the food delivery app's founder Deepinder Goyal tweeted that the employee had been reinstated and said that the "level of tolerance and chill" needs to be much higher in the country.

"#Reject_Zomato" became a top trend when a user, "@Vikash67456607" shared his unpleasant exchange with the food delivery app's agent.

Customer Vikash alleged that when he called to report a missing food item that he had ordered, he was told by customer care that it can't be done as "I didn't know Hindi".

"Ordered food in zomato and an item was missed. Customer care says amount can't be refunded as I didn't know Hindi. Also takes lesson that being an Indian I should know Hindi. Tagged me a liar as he didn't know Tamil," he wrote.

He also attached screenshots showing the remarks by the Zomato agent.

"For your kind information, Hindi is our national language. So it is very common that everybody should know Hindi little bit," the customer care executive told Vikash.

Facing backlash on Twitter over the entire episode, Zomato sacked the employee but later reinstated him.

In a post, Zomato initially wrote: "We are sorry for the behaviour of our customer care agent, we have terminated the agent for their negligence towards our diverse culture. The termination is in line with our protocols, and agent's behaviour was clearly against the principles of sensitivity that we train our agents for on a regular basis (sic)," said the company in a statement in both English and Tamil.

"This customer care agent's statement does not represent our company's stance towards language and diversity," the company stated.

Later founder Deepinder Goyal called it an "ignorant mistake" and announced that the agent was reinstated.

"An ignorant mistake by someone in a support centre of a food delivery company became a national issue. The level of tolerance and chill in our country needs to be way higher than it is nowadays. Who's to be blamed here?" he said, adding that it is something the person can learn going forward.

Goyal stressed that the call centre agents are young people and are not experts on languages as well as religious sentiments of the country.

"Having said that, we should all tolerate each other's imperfections. And appreciate each other's language and regional sentiments. Tamil Nadu - we love you. Just as much as we love the rest of the country. Not more, not less. We are all the same, as much as we are different," he said.

However, the incident took on political colour as well with DMK leader Kanimozhi wading into the controversy.

"Tamilians needs no lesson on who is Indian. It's not a must for customer to know Hindi/English. It should be mandatory for support centres to speak in the state's language," said Kanimozhi.