Kunal Kamra-Bhavish Aggarwal feud: Is criticism not welcome anymore?

Comedian Kunal Kamra and Bhavish Aggarwal, founder and CEO of Ola, recently made headlines with their heated exchange on X (formerly Twitter). The issue started when Kamra posted on social media, criticizing the service of Ola Electric scooters. He shared images of unsold scooters at a dealership, sparking a conversation about Ola's customer service issues. Kamra tweeted about how people were facing issues with Ola electric vehicles, particularly highlighting the impact on daily wage workers. He tagged Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India, and the Department of Consumer Affairs, asking if Indian consumers have a voice.

To which Bhavish Aggarwal angrily replied, tweeting that if Kamra cares so much about this issue, he could come help them and he is willing to pay more than what he earned from this “paid tweet” or his “failed comedy career”. He went on to add that if Kamra is not capable of this, he can sit quietly and let them focus on fixing the issues for the real customers. Kamra gave a comeback saying, " Paid tweet, failed comedy career & sit quietly. Indian businessmen at their humble best...if you can prove I'm paid for the tweet this or anything else I must've said against private companies, I'll delete all social media and & sit quietly forever. "

Amid the feud, Ola Electric, led by Bhavish Aggarwal, saw its stock plummet to around Rs 90 per share during Monday's morning trade, as dissatisfied customers took to social media to voice numerous complaints about its flagship electric two-wheeler. The company's stock dropped 8.5% to Rs 90.26, down from the previous trading session. Despite debuting at Rs 76 and reaching a peak of Rs 157.40, the stock has since tumbled, driven by widespread issues with the hardware and software of its e-scooters, as well as poor service conditions at its centers across the country.

Continuing with the feud, Kamra posted another tweet with a clip attached of his stand-up that he did last year and went on to call Aggarwal arrogant, substandard and a prick. Aggarwal immediately got back at him with another snarky comment, "chot lagi? dard hua? aaja service center. Bahut kaam hai. I will pay better than your flop shows pay you." He also challenged him to show his audience how much he truly cares and whether he is only gas and BS.

Kunal Kamra and Bhavish Aggarwal kept exchanging taunts and gibs through the day. Where Kunal kept attacking the CEO and Founder of Ola with data, calling out the company for unethical practices and their “inadequacy” in providing the customers with remedies and services, Aggarwal continued to defend his company and tried to make comments about Kamra's comedy career and asked him to do some real contribution.

Various people, who saw this, lashed out at the “outrageous” and “unprofessional” approach that Ola CEO chose to take. Some experts like Aditya Shah tagged Kamra, claiming how Ola themselves are reaching out through their PR team to get paid tweets. Smita Prakash, Editor ANI, also commented taking Bhavish 's side saying that “going after wealth creators in India is a movement in which jaichands of the country are hard at work”. She said that it is a personal choice to either amplify the game of the “termites” or back the job- creators.

This whole feud has fanned flames across platforms amongst all kinds of consumers and business owners. Kamra replied to Prakash's tweet, saying that the job creator is Indian but lakhs of customers having issues with the products and services are from Uzbekistan. He also called out Bhavish Aggarwal for his tweet about not working on a Sunday. Aggarwal had posted the tweet in response to Infosys co-founder Narayan Murthy's statement where he advocated 72-hour work week for employees.

This feud has ignited intense debates online, with some criticizing Aggarwal’s approach while others creating memes about the situation. It raises important questions about how company leaders should handle criticism on public platforms and whether engaging in such disputes serves any real purpose beyond damaging their public image.