Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal, who was involved in a heated exchange with comedian Kunal Kamra last week, is back in the spotlight, this time for an old interview. A clip from one of his earlier interviews where he shared his views on work-life balance is going viral. The Saturday and Sunday off were not an "Indian thing" but a "Western cultural import", he said during his last year interview with YourStory.
"I don't think world-life balance is the right construct. Again it's a contrarian view. There will be people who will disagree with me," he said.
"Many people will disagree with me, but I believe... Let me actually take a historical perspective first and then I will tell you... the philosophy I live by. This Saturday-Sunday is not an Indian thing. This is a Western thing," he added.
In India, we never had Saturdays and Sundays, he said, adding, "We had the Lunar Calendar and we had holidays basis that." We had one or two days monthly, he added. "Then it became a Western cultural import and then the industrial revolution happened...," he said.
The video went viral days after Kamra and Aggarwal took potshots at each other on social media.
The comedian shared an image featuring a large number of EV scooters parked at a service centre of OLA.
"Do Indian consumers have a voice? Do they deserve this? Two-wheelers are many daily wage workers' lifeline... Anyone who has an issue with Ola Electric leave your story below tagging all...," he wrote.
However, Kamra's post irked Aggarwal, who called it a "paid tweet".
"Since you care so much (Kunal Kamra), come and help us out! I'll even pay more than you earned for this paid tweet or from your failed comedy career. Or else sit quiet and let us focus on fixing the issues for the real customers. We're expanding the service network fast and backlogs will be cleared soon," he wrote.
This didn't go down well with Kamra, who, in another post, posted a clip of his standup wrote, "On my failed comedy career here's a clip from last year when I surprised an audience... Anything else you arrogant, substandard, prick."
In reply, Aggarwal slammed Kamra and asked him to come to the Ola service centre, adding that he would "pay better than your flop shows pay you."
Thereafter, Kamra asked Aggarwal to provide a "total refund" to anyone who wants to return their Ola EV.
In an October 7 post on X, Kamra wrote, "Bhavish Agarwal who thought Sunday should be a working day, Worked Yesterday to prove himself wrong…"
Meanwhile, Ola Electric has received a show-cause notice from the Central Consumer Protection Authority over the alleged violation of consumer rights as well as misleading advertisement and unfair trade practices, as per a regulatory filing by the company. The show cause notice was received by the company via email on October 7, 2024.
In its regulatory filing, the company stated the notice was issued by the "Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) for alleged violation of consumer rights, misleading advertisement and unfair trade practices".
