Backlash Erupts Over 'Marathi People Not Welcome' Job Listing, Recruiter Apologises

Discrimination on the basis of region, religion, caste and gender is an offence in India. Almost all companies are aware that they can not select or reject a candidate solely on the basis of their home state. Therefore, it came as a shocker for many when a recruitment call on LinkedIn mentioned “Marathi people not welcome" while inviting applications for a Graphic Designer. What is even more surprising is that the location for the job was listed as Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra. An X user shared a screenshot of this post which got over two lakh views since it was posted on May 5.

As per the post, the ideal candidate must know how to use Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. Nowhere does the job’s specifications indicate that it is fit for a person from a certain state, which makes the condition “Marathi people not welcome" even more senseless. The job was for ITCODE Infotech, an IT Solutions company. This recruitment call has sparked much outrage against the recruiter and the company with many demanding legal action against them.

Commenting on this, an X user wrote, “I have seen only a certain business community do this kind of discrimination for basic job roles in Bengal, Andhra, Orissa and now Maharashtra."

Another person remarked, “Pathetic! I do agree that this kind of community bias & unnecessary hatred needs to stop. However, this looks like a post published solely to create unrest among people, and further, more controversy. Can’t rule out a fake/troll profile or even a political stunt."

In response to the outrage, ITCODE Infotech released a statement and said that the person who put out the post is not affiliated with them. The statement said, “We strongly condemn the recent hateful post directed towards Marathi people by JANVI SARNA. It’s important to clarify that she is not affiliated with our company in any capacity; she simply utilised our company name on LinkedIn, a platform open to anyone." The company added that they do not have any job openings as of now.

The HR personnel, who works as a freelancer, also apologised for her mistake in a number of LinkedIn posts. She wrote, “I really apologise. A few days back I posted a graphic designer job opening post and because of a single objectionable sentence, many people’s sentiments got hurt. This is to inform you that I don’t endorse such comments which discriminate against anyone. It was due to my oversight, I posted this job opening here."

However, it looks like there are rarely any takers for her apology as most of the replies to her posts were still negative. Additionally, she did not mention what prompted her to write “Marathi people not welcome" in the first place.