Food-supplying mobile aggregator Zomato dominated social media conversations on Wednesday after it refused to succumb to bullying tactics of Hindutva bigots. This was after a bigot, identified as Pandit Amit Shukla, cancelled his order since the delivery boy was Muslim. Far from entertaining the bigot’s request, the company tutored him on the value of humanity as it wrote, “Food doesn’t have a religion. It is a religion.”
Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal too took to Twitter to defend his company’s stand. Goyal went a step further to announce that he would happily suffer the loss in business but was not prepared to compromise with the idea of India. He wrote, ” 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.”
He found extraordinary support from prominent social media users, who all rallied behind him and his company even as right-wing bigots threatened to uninstall Zomato app.
Wow, so proud of you @deepigoyal. You give me hope for the idea of India. More power to you and Zomato. Friends, let’s support @ZomatoIN. These fanatics mustn’t be allowed to succeed. https://t.co/4ydn8jYKSp
— Rifat Jawaid (@RifatJawaid) July 31, 2019
well done Deepinder. Thank you
— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) July 31, 2019
So very proud of Team @ZomatoIN for calling out this strange person. Bravo! #IdeaOfIndia ???? pic.twitter.com/1UdHFJ3Bbo
— Rohit Bansal ?? (@theRohitBansal) July 31, 2019
Heart touching indeed as the offence was disgusting.
— Dr. S.Y. Quraishi (@DrSYQuraishi) July 31, 2019
But the most amazing support to Zomato and its founder came from an unexpected quarter. One of its rivals, Uber Eats, took to Twitter to announce that it stood by its rival. The company tweeted, “@ZomatoIN , we stand by you.”
.@ZomatoIN, we stand by you. https://t.co/vzjF8RhYzi
— Uber Eats India (@UberEats_IND) July 31, 2019
Many Hindutva fanatics also argued all that Zomato was being hypocritical by not respecting the bigotry of a Hindu customer while happily entertaining the Halal food choice of its Muslim customers.
The company aptly clarified that ‘the halal tag on Zomato is a result of restaurants seeking that distinction and -not us as an aggregator.’