Let's say this again:?Food has no religion. Food is religion.?
Twitter user @Namo_SARKAAR recently kicked up a storm online after he tweeting to Zomato telling them he was uninstalling their app because the company refused his request to send a Hindu rider instead of Muslim executive to deliver his food in the ¡®month of saavan.¡¯ He thought it was a fair demand, and guess who is supporting him in this? People with similar usernames.?
UberEats came out in support of Zomato, backing their decision to not discriminate on the basis of religion. And guess what has since been trending on Twitter? #boycottzomato, #boycottubereats #uninstallzomato, #istandwithamit. What's interesting is that most of these profiles are making a blatant show of what they consider to be patriotism.?
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And there have been thousands and thousands of tweets with these hashtags.??
Some of these bigots tried to 'highlight' the 'selective secularism' of Zomato and started tweeting about how it takes special care of the Muslim community's food choices.
But, here's the thing. What you eat is your choice. There's no bigotry in that. The bigotry lies in the fact that we're discriminating against someone on the basis of their religion. That is not what patriotism means.
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Just like you might complain about having pineapples on your pizza instead of jalepenoes (which is a valid complaint the company should address) some others might have preference of the kind of meat they want to eat. Who brings you your food has nothing to do with the food itself.?
I would say that the trend surprises me, but I knowing how people jump on the 'hindutva is in danger' bandwagon without even a single thought, the moment this news came out that these reactions were only a matter of time. What a rider has to do with packaged food I will not be able to understand.
But exactly how bigoted, narrow-minded and brainwashed do you have to be for something like this to matter to you. Why would anyone support anything that discriminated against people, their religion, the food they eat, and the job they do.?We're clearly failing as humans on so many levels.
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Here is the thing, if you want your food to be shudh, cook it yourself.?
This incident also gave rise to yet more Twitter hashtags like?#IdontstandwithAmit and #zomatosaysnotohate, and while it good to see some sense prevailed, the damage had been done. Meanwhile user @Namo_SARKAAR has deleted his account.?
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I still don't get people running after everything 'shudh' in life have the worst thinking around. People are not going to stop ordering food. If anything this incident makes me want to order from Zomato more because now I know there's heart behind their business. Kudos to the company for standing up to a bully who thought he could get away with something like this.
Amit Shukla?has been booked under IPC sections 107 and 116 of CrPC?for hurting religious sentiments, according to the Jabalpur police.
Anyway there are many of us here, who have no problems or questions about the religion of people who make the effort to bring us our food. Let's all keep fighting the good fight.