Singapore's DBS bank fired an employee for sharing a picture of a T-shirt with a print of a Singapore flag being torn to reveal an Indian flag underneath. Avijit Das Patnaik was reportedly serving in the bank’s PR team.
Avijit Das Patnaik had shared this image on a Facebook group called "Singapore Indian and Expats" on the eve of 15 August, 2018, reported The Online Citizen. The picture was captioned "Phir Bhi Dil Hai..." (The Heart Still Is..." which could possibly be a reference to the Bollywood song "Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani."
The DBS bank put out a statement on its Facebook page announcing that Avijit Das Patnaik was no longer with the bank. However, they also stated that "at the same time, it is fair and right that all employees are given the benefit of due process."
According to the Strait Times, Patnaik, in his defence, had pointed out that he did not design the image and had posted it after various individual accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp had shared it. Patnaik had reportedly taken down the image on realising the sensitive nature of it.
While a police probe is underway, Several Singapore nationals had taken to social media to condemn Patnaik for sharing a defaced image of the Singapore flag and threatened to close their bank accounts with DBS if they did not fire him.
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