‘No Muslim delivery person’: Food delivery app Swiggy faces backlash over customer’s request

Food delivery app called out on social media for not issuing statement on the incident

Indian food delivery app Swiggy is facing backlash for not issuing a comment after a customer allegedly asked the service to not send a Muslim delivery personnel.

The incident was brought to light by Shaikh Salauddin, national general secretary of the Indian Federation of App based Transport Workers, who tagged the app and demanded 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,” Mr Salauddin said in a tweet on Tuesday.

“Religion does not teach us to create divisions among people,” he added.

The incident took place in the southern state of Telangana where a customer lodged a request for a change of delivery personnel on the Swiggy app.

A screenshot of the customer’s request was shared by Mr Salauddin in his tweet.

“Don’t want a Muslim delivery person,” read the request.

The incident has sparked outrage on social media, as several users called out Swiggy for its silence. The food delivery app has not yet issued a statement on the incident.

“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?” tweeted Karti Chidambaram, a lawmaker from the opposition Congress party.

“Such hate mongers demean India,” tweeted Hindu activist Rahul Easwar. “Such hate mongers demean India. There is No Right to Hate against any Indian/Human,” he added.

Users also demanded that Swiggy blacklist customers who make such requests.

This is not the first time such an incident has happened in India, where religious fault lines have deepened in recent years.

In 2019, Zomato, another food delivery app earned praise after it cancelled a customer’s order after he requested that his “non-Hindu” rider be changed.

The app had tweeted in response to his service request to change the rider: “Food doesn’t have a religion. It is a religion.”

Earlier this year, the US State Department’s annual report on international religious freedom called out India for “rising attacks” on minorities and said religious minorities had faced intimidation throughout 2021.

It also cited Delhi as an example while speaking about how religious freedoms and the rights of religious minorities are under threat around the world.