Ola's Bhavish Aggarwal challenges LinkedIn, Microsoft after 'pronouns' fight turns ugly

Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO of Indian ride-hailing giant Ola, has called out LinkedIn and Microsoft for their woke policies, bringing into focus the cultural incongruities between Western tech giants and Indian companies. In a post on X, he announced plans to build an Indian tech platform and shift Ola's workload away from Microsoft's Azure cloud service.

He announced a series of actions aimed at reducing reliance on Western tech platforms and fostering a more "Indian" digital space.

"I’m not against global tech companies. But as an Indian citizen, I feel concerned that my life will be governed by western Big Tech monopolies and we will be culturally subsumed as the above experience shows. This is not about Ola or any of my companies. Ola is too small to make any impact against this. I want to confront this forced ideology as a free thinking Indian and do what I can in my capacity. So here are the actions I’m taking. Putting my money where my mouth is," he wrote on X.

Firstly, Aggarwal pledged to work with Indian developers to build a social media framework based on Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) and Unified Payments Interface (UPI) principles. This framework, he argued, would prioritize user control and data ownership, placing power in the hands of creators rather than corporations.

Secondly, Aggarwal announced Ola's decision to migrate its entire workload from Microsoft's Azure cloud platform to Ola's own Krutrim cloud service. While acknowledging the technical challenges, he cited a desire to break free from potential cultural impositions by Western Big Tech.

Finally, Aggarwal extended an offer to other developers seeking an alternative to Azure. He promised a full year of free cloud usage on Krutrim, with the caveat that they don't switch back to Azure afterwards.

In his post, Aggarwal criticized LinkedIn, Microsoft, and what he termed as "wokeness" in the tech industry. He highlighted Ola's commitment to diversity and inclusivity, pointing out the company's operation of one of the largest women-only automotive plants in India. Aggarwal stressed that Ola does not need lectures from western companies on inclusivity, citing India's cultural practices that have respected transgender individuals for thousands of years.

Aggarwal specifically took issue with LinkedIn's introduction of pronouns in user profiles, calling it a "woke political ideology of entitlement" that does not belong in India. He expressed concern that global tech companies like LinkedIn could dictate cultural norms and ideologies in India, potentially eroding the country's cultural identity.

Earlier, Ola CEO criticised the use of non-binary gender pronouns, calling them an "illness" from the West. He shared a screenshot where LinkedIn's AI bot referred to him with "they" and "them" pronouns, expressing disapproval. He suggested that this "pronouns illness" is being promoted by municipal corporations in India.