After 'Non-Hindu' Debacle, Zomato Delivery Executive Shares His Side Of The Story & It's Sad

It was just another busy day for Zomato delivery executive Faiyaz when delivery for a customer in Jabalpur turned into a raging religious debate.

For those unaware a customer named Amit Shukla, cancelled the order because Faiyaz was a "non-Hindu."

Twitter

'Just cancelled an order on @ZomatoIN they allocated a non hindu rider for my food they said they can't change rider and can't refund on cancellation I said you can't force me to take a delivery I don't want don't refund just cancel,' Shukla tweeted.

To this bigoted tweet, Zomato came up with a crisp response that won the Internet: "Food doesn't have a religion. It is a religion."

But how did all of this back and forth affect Faiyaz?

Faiyaz was unimpressed by all the storm that was kicked up by something that should have been a simple food delivery mission.

Food doesn¡¯t have a religion. It is a religion. https://t.co/H8P5FlAw6y

¡ª Zomato India (@ZomatoIN) 31 July 2019

"This hurts me, but what can I do... we are poor people who are meant to put up with things like these," PTI quoted him as saying.

Narrating the sequence of events Faiyaz told TOI that he called Shukla to know his exact location when the latter told him sternly that the order stands cancelled.

Food for thought pic.twitter.com/zZ3k6YfuzI

¡ª Zomato India (@ZomatoIN) 31 July 2019

Little did Faiyaz know that it would spark a debate on religion.

The man behind the controversy, however, showed no signs of remorse. "Does my freedom of expression and religion not fall under the idea of India?" he told a news channel. "The holy month of Shravan is on, and this is a matter of personal choice."

Shukla, the customer who cancelled the order, identifies himself as Pandit Amit Shukla and has the username @NaMo_SARKAAR. When asked for a reason for the change in order Shukla replied: "We have Shravan and I don't need a delivery from a Muslim fellow."

Shukla tweeted that he cancelled the order without refund, and said that Zomato was "forcing us to take deliveries from people we don't want".

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

¡ª Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) 31 July 2019

The customer care executive responded that cancelling the order would cost him Rs 237, and then said: "At Zomato, we don't discriminate on basis of riders, I hope you understand."

Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal echoed his company's stand with a firm message. "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 tweeted.