Dancer Salman Yusuff Khan has alleged that an immigration officer at Bangalore airport harassed him for not speaking in Kannada.
Choreographer Salman Yusuff Khan has shared a video on his social media where he has claimed that he was harassed and humiliated by an immigration officer at Bangalore airport. Salman said that the officer told him he ‘suspected’ him for not speaking Kannada despite being from Bangalore.
On Wednesday, the choreographer shared a video on Instagram where he recalled his ordeal. Describing his experience, he wrote in the caption, “On my way to Dubai and I meet this immigration officer who speaks to me in Kannada, and I in my broken Kannada try to tell him that I understand the language but can’t speak so well to which he continues to speak in Kannada and shows me my passport and points out my name and my birth place and my fathers name and his birthplace and has the audacity to tell me that you and your father are born in Bangalore and you can’t speak Kannada. To which I replied that being born in Bangalore doesn’t mean I’m born with the language. I could beborn in Bangalore and travelled the world like I have been always a Saudi child bought up in Saudi. (ps: I have never had Kannada as a language as I never lived in the country during my schooling. Whatever little that I know is through my friends) to which he goes to the extent of saying that if u can’t speak Kannada I can suspect you…"
The dancer added that after he asserted that India’s official language in Hindi and that is his mother tongue too, the official still did not relent. “he says ‘I can just suspect you for anything’. I told him ‘TRY ME’,” Salman added. He then wrote that he was a ‘proud Bangalorean’ but felt disturbed by what he had to face. His note concluded, “What I’ve faced today is unacceptable. You should always encourage people to learn any local language not demean them for not knowing it, and pulling your parents name into it.”
Salman added that he tried to report the incident to the relevant authorities but was not able to do that. The dancer received support from fans and colleagues on the post, with many calling the immigration officer’s behaviour ‘highly condemmnable’.
Salman Yusuff Khan gained prominence after he won the inaugural season of Dance India Dance back in 2009. He has since worked as a choreographer in reality shows like Jhalak Dikhlaa Jaa and Nach Baliye. He has also appeared in films like Wanted, Rakta Charitra, ABCD, Lakshmi, and Street Dancer 3D.
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