Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO, Ola has lashed out against Microsoft owned professional network LinkedIN for deleting his post twice. He said that LinkedIN deleted his post and the entire thread for it was about the professional network imposing its political ideology on the users that was “unsafe and sinister”. Dear LinkedIn you deleted my post again! This time you didn’t even notify me or leave a trace since you removed the whole thread. Luckily my team takes screenshots. You can delete this one too but you can’t remove my opinion. Since you’re owned by Microsoft, I will be sharing my broader thoughts and some actions tomorrow with everyone,” he said.
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Aggarwal was highlighting the usage of “they” instead of “he” on the platform for his description. After raising a strong objection to the deletion of the post, Aggarwal highlighted how it was time for Indians to build their own platforms and startups to counter being governed by western Big Tech monopolies. “I wouldn’t have waded into this debate but clearly Linkedin has presumed Indians need to have pronouns in our life, and that we can’t criticise it. They will bully us into agreeing with them or cancel us out. And if they can do this to me, I’m sure the average user stands no chance. As a founder and CEO, this western DEI system has a major impact on my business if it grows an entitlement mindset in our professional lives and I will fight it,” he said.
In his blog, Aggarwal has made a call to action for the development of indigenous Indian tech platforms. Expressing a sense of concern, Aggarwal said that as an Indian citizen he had apprehensions regarding the dominance of western Big Tech monopolies in governing aspects of daily life, potentially leading to cultural assimilation. Clarifying that the sentiment is not directed towards any specific company, such as Ola or others owned by the speaker, it was emphasized that Ola’s scale alone is insufficient to counteract this trend. Instead, the focus is on challenging what is perceived as an imposed ideology and taking proactive steps as a free-thinking Indian. The speaker outlined intentions to invest resources to support this cause, indicating a commitment to action beyond mere words.
What Bhavish Aggarwal Wants to Do For Indian Developer and Startup Community
While accepting that he would not be able to end LinkedIn’s monopoly overnight, he committed to work with the Indian developer community to build a Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) social media framework. “DPIs like UPI, ONDC, Aadhaar etc are a uniquely Indian idea and is even more needed in the world of social media. The only “community guidelines” should be the Indian law. No corporate person should be able to decide what will be banned. Data should be owned by the creators instead of being owned by the corporates who make money using our data and then lecture us on “community guidelines,” he said.
Issue Also Shines Spotlight on Startup Krutrim
Bhavish Aggarwal also used this opportunity to bring everyone’s attention to Krutrim. He stated that Ola was moving out all of its workload from Azure onto the company’s startup Krutrim cloud over the next week. “It is a challenge as all developers know, but my team is so charged up about doing this,” he said. In another bold move, Ola Krutrim has announced a compelling offer for developers considering transitioning away from Azure. They have pledged to provide a full year of complimentary cloud usage to any developer making the switch, with just one condition: a commitment not to return to Azure thereafter. Interested developers are encouraged to reach out via email to exitazure@olakrutrim.com. Notably, the offer remains perpetually available, extending an open invitation to those seeking alternative cloud solutions.
