New Delhi: Indian food-delivery service app Zomato was recently embroiled in a controversy that originated on Twitter yesterday.
It all began when a disgruntled Zomato customer took to the micro-blogging site to voice an unusual reason for cancelling his order. The customer, identified as Amit Shukla (a resident of Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh), stated that he had cancelled his order when he realised that Zomato had “allocated a non-Hindu rider” delivery executive to him.
Shukla further tweeted, “They said they can’t change rider and can’t refund on cancellation, I said you can’t force me to take a delivery I don’t want…”
An hour after Shukla’s tweet; Zomato’s official Twitter account retorted saying, “Food doesn’t have a religion. It is a religion.”
Food doesn’t have a religion. It is a religion. https://t.co/H8P5FlAw6y
— Zomato India (@ZomatoIN) 31 July 2019
Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal also responded, stating that he supported India’s cultural diversity and stressed that Zomato’s corporate values did not discriminate against anyone.
We are proud of the idea of India – and the diversity of our esteemed customers and partners. We aren’t sorry to lose any business that comes in the way of our values. https://t.co/cgSIW2ow9B
— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) 31 July 2019
Soon after this exchange, Shukla came under heavy fire as the Twitterati pointed out the blatant bigotry associated with the tweet.
#Zomato is right to deny a customer’s request for a delivery person of a diffrt religion. But wrong (& hypocritical) to claim it dsn’t mix religion with food. It fusses over religious clients’ halal/Jain food. Curious if it does for all, eg a religious Sikh wanting non halal meat
— Baijayant Jay Panda (@PandaJay) 1 August 2019
Since then, the netizens have been divided over the issue and the site has witnessed some involvement from India’s political class such as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) vice president Baijayant Jay Panda. On Thursday, August 1 morning, Uber Eats (another prominent food delivery app) tweeted its support for Zomato for standing by its corporate diversity values.
.@ZomatoIN, we stand by you. https://t.co/vzjF8RhYzi
— Uber Eats India (@UberEats_IND) 31 July 2019