Industrialist Anand Mahindra came out on Twitter in support of workplace diversity when he responded to an anguished ex-employee of Tech Mahindra BSG, Gaurav Pramanik’s day-old tweet.
The tweet in question was not originally marked to Mr. Mahindra but a series of screenshots of an email that Mr. Pramanik had written to his erstwhile supervisor Richa Gautam.
The letter, detailing Ms. Gautam’s bigoted behaviour in the workplace, was Mr. Pramanik’s emotive response to the striking down of Section 377. His email which has been shared 262 times on Twitter states, “I had promised to write to you the day IPC Section 377 was scrapped and being a homosexual in a country as great as India was legal.”
The 34-year-old Mr. Pramanik who is now based in Darjeeling, West Bengal, was an employee of Tech Mahindra BSG in Noida from 2012 to 2016. A professional trainer, Mr. Pramanik’s missive, specifically recalls a meeting in which Ms. Gautam rebuked a staff member by calling him ‘gay’ for crying. Mr. Pramanik, who spoke to The Hindu over phone from Darjeeling, also called out Ms. Gautam’s Islamophobia at the workplace. Mr Pramanik says, “My email was not meant to malign or cast any aspersions on the company but to call out one person.” Ms. Gautam is described by the BPO’s website as heading Training and the Chief Diversity and Inclusion Office.
Mr. Pramanik shared the email on Twitter after no response from Ms. Gautam was forthcoming. His tweet and email eventually caught the attention of the company’s top honchos and was responded to in positive terms by the Twitter handles of Mr. Mahindra, Tech Mahindra and C.P. Gurnani, CEO and MD of Tech Mahindra. Mr. Mahindra added to the Tech Mahindra tweet with, “I can categorically assure you that we celebrate diversity in our workplace. Our Code of Conduct is explicit on this subject. Fairness & dignity of the individual is enshrined in our core values. Tech M is investigating these allegations, and appropriate action will follow...”
Mr. Pramanik said that he had been contacted by the company’s Ombudsman. He stated, “I am looking forward to what action Tech Mahindra comes up with now. It’s a great mistake to have someone like Richa in her position (in charge of a Diversity and Training portfolio).”
This Twitter exchange and its result is probably one of the first visible outcomes of the Supreme Court’s decision to partially strike down Section 377 with regards to consensual sex on September 6.
