We sadly come across incidents of discrimination on the basis of religion and caste, on a daily basis, some of which are a lot to comprehend. And it’s even more saddening, when people bring their prejudices in basic chores or even places of work.
Recently, a screenshot went viral, where a Swiggy customer had added an instruction with their order — asking not to send a Muslim delivery executive. This happened in Hyderabad, and Shaik Salauddin, who’s the head of an organization of workers employed in the gig economy, also shared the screenshot asking Swiggy to take action.
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 #SareJahanSeAchhaHindustanHamara#JaiHind #JaiTelangana pic.twitter.com/XLmz9scJpH
— Shaik Salauddin (@ShaikTgfwda) August 30, 2022
An instruction on Swiggy might seem a personal choice, and a harmless one at that. But someone was literally denied to do their job, because of their religion. And if that isn’t alarming, I’m not sure what would be.
And a lot of people on Twitter are rightly outraged post the incident.
Disgraceful behaviour – totally unacceptable in a ‘secular’ country, that a particular religion only, is acceptable for deliveries to your home!#Swiggy
— Chitra_englit (@KamalChitraPOV) September 1, 2022
How does one know the religion of the delivery person ? Do you know who cooks your food at a restaurant ? This is being stretched too far.
— Ravishankar 🇮🇳 (@hcravi) August 31, 2022
How do they know that the food isn’t cooked by muslims…. and even if it is…how does it matter. Bigoted mindset!😡
— Sandeep Kanwar 🇮🇳 (@Sandykanwar) August 30, 2022
Her choice of what? What’s next? Presence of any Muslim person in the complete cycle? Farms cultivated by Muslim, reaped, milled, driven, stored….how on earth is this justified?
— KSP (@SaveAmravathi) August 29, 2022
swiggy should not serve such people and the person should be blacklisted like Airlines do.
— Politico (@Socialtweetple) August 31, 2022
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? @Swiggy @TGPWU @Connect_IFAT
— Karti P Chidambaram (@KartiPC) August 31, 2022
It’s incidents like these that need our attention, because who knows, what next?
