Hyderabad: After outrage over a demand made by a Swiggy customer in Hyderabad, the company on Friday disclosed that the assignment of orders is entirely automated. The food delivery app also mentioned that attempts are being made to validate the authenticity of the screenshot.
It all started after the customer while placing an order on the delivery app mentioned, “Don’t want a Muslim delivery person”.
Later, Shaik Salauddin, national general secretary of the Indian Federation of App-based Transport Workers (IFAT) shared the screenshot of the instruction on social media.
He also wrote, “Dear @Swiggy please take a stand against such a bigoted request. We (Delivery workers) are here to deliver food to one and all, be it Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh @Swiggy @TGPWU Mazhab Nahi Sikhata Aapas Mein Bair Rakhna”
After the picture went viral on social media, many netizens decried the attempt to give a communal colour even to food delivery and urged Swiggy to act against this act of blatant bigotry.
Congress MP Karti P. Chidambaram supported Saluddin’s demand. “Platform companies cannot sit back and watch as gig workers face such blatant bigotry in the name of religion. What action will such companies take to safeguard the rights of gig workers?” he asked.
Prominent Hindu activist Rahul Easwar too requested Swiggy to blacklist the customer. He wrote that the customer is spreading hate against “our Muslim brothers”. He went on to add that such hate mongers demean India.
Today, TMC leader and Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra requested Swiggy to blacklist the customer. She also demanded that the name of the customer should be made public and a police complaint must be filed against the person.
Responding to her demand, Swiggy wrote, “Hey Mohua, as an equal opportunity platform, there is no place for discrimination in Swiggy’s delivery universe. The assignment of orders is entirely automated and does not take any such requests into consideration. We’ve been attempting to validate the authenticity and recency of the screenshot to get more information since the incident was first reported a few days ago”.
This is not the first time that such a request has been made by a customer on food delivery apps. In June, a man in Madhya Pradesh cancelled an order from Zomato saying his request to change a non-Hindu rider was not accepted.
