Ola’s Founder and CEO, Bhavish Aggarwal, has announced a significant shift in the company’s cloud infrastructure, moving its entire workload from Microsoft’s Azure to its indigenous Krutrim cloud. This decision comes in the wake of a recent controversy with LinkedIn, owned by Microsoft, over the platform’s handling of pronoun usage and its alleged imposition of political ideology.
The conflict arose when LinkedIn’s AI referred to Aggarwal using “they” instead of “he” pronouns, prompting him to criticize the platform’s neutrality and accuse it of pushing a political agenda. In response, Aggarwal expressed the need for India to develop its own technology and AI, free from external influences.
In a blog post, Aggarwal emphasized the importance of building indigenous technology and announced plans to collaborate with the Indian developer community to create a Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) social media framework. He argued that DPIs, such as UPI and Aadhaar, are uniquely Indian concepts that are essential in the realm of social media, where community guidelines should be governed by Indian law rather than corporate interests.
Aggarwal reiterated Ola’s commitment to diversity and inclusion, citing the company’s operation of one of the largest women-only automotive plants. He emphasized that Indian culture has historically been inclusive without the need for pronouns, highlighting his personal experience of learning about the respect accorded to transgenders in ancient Indian society during a visit to Ayodhya.
Regarding the pronouns issue, Aggarwal criticized it as a “woke political ideology of entitlement” that does not align with Indian values. He expressed concern that platforms like LinkedIn may enforce such ideologies, affecting professional lives and business operations. This, he argued, underscores the urgency for India to develop its own tech platforms to prevent cultural subsumption by Western Big Tech monopolies.
Aggarwal’s decision to move Ola’s workload to Krutrim cloud reflects his determination to take concrete actions against what he perceives as forced ideologies. He offered other developers a year’s worth of free cloud usage to encourage them to move away from Azure, emphasizing his commitment to fostering an independent Indian tech ecosystem.
In conclusion, Aggarwal’s stance underscores the growing importance of indigenous technology development in India and the need for platforms that respect and reflect Indian values and culture. By challenging dominant tech narratives and taking proactive steps, he aims to safeguard India’s technological sovereignty and cultural integrity.
