“Food doesn’t have a religion. It is a religion.”
Zomato, an Indian restaurant search and discovery service, set a precedent for bigotry on July 31.
Food doesn’t have a religion. It is a religion. https://t.co/H8P5FlAw6y
— Zomato India (@ZomatoIN) July 31, 2019
On July 30, a twitter account called NaMo_SARKAAR belonging to a man called Pandit Amit Shukla set off a series of hateful tweets against Zomato. Shukla’s complaint was that he did not want a Muslim delivery person bringing his food, a request that was very obviously Islamophobic. Shukla claimed that Zomato was forcing him to accept deliveries from a person against his will and announced that he would contact his lawyers regarding this.
@ZomatoIN is forcing us to take deliveries from people we don’t want else they won’t refund and won’t cooperate I am removing this app and will discuss the issue with my lawyers
— पं अमित शुक्ल (@NaMo_SARKAAR) July 30, 2019
Shukla, a resident of Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, also shared screenshots of his conversation with Zomato’s customer care.
This is my objection pic.twitter.com/U4DjaHONoo
— पं अमित शुक्ल (@NaMo_SARKAAR) July 30, 2019
Now the history of my latest order has been blocked I asked them to cancel they did it why aren’t they showing details on the site they can show that I ordered cancellation without refund they did so pic.twitter.com/0DptbJ81lS
— पं अमित शुक्ल (@NaMo_SARKAAR) July 30, 2019
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His “request” was called out massively on Twitter for being both frivolous and hateful. A quick search also revealed that Shukla, who claims to be a “Nationalist Proud Hindu” and regularly tweets hateful content, is followed by Piyush Goyal, Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry. As a trend, it has been observed that many Union ministers and even Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself are guilty of following a large number of abusive Twitter accounts that spew sectarian hatred on a near-daily basis.
Zomato’s response to Shukla’s bigotry was also shared by founder Deepinder Goyal who added that “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.”
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) July 31, 2019
Both Zomato’s and Goyal’s statements were hailed by many on Twitter.