India, May 23 -- A Bengaluru resident's post about his friend refusing to learn Kannada even after 18 years in the city has triggered a sharp debate on social media over language and local identity.

"After 18 years in Bangalore, my friend hasn't voted or learnt Kannada. My initial efforts to teach her conversational phrases didn't work out. Recently, she said Kannadigas are biased. By the way, our interactions are now limited," Prajwal Bhat, an X user wrote.

(Also Read: Bengaluru tech founder to shift office to Pune over language tensions, Kannadigas say 'good riddance')

The post struck a chord with many users, some of whom shared similar experiences of people living in Karnataka for years without making an effort to learn the local la...