Amid massive ongoing protests launched by gigworkers against quick commerce platforms such as Zomato, Blinkit, Swiggy and Zepto, Deepinder Goyal has once again posted something that has raised public attention on the ongoing issue.
Zomato co-founder and CEO, Deepinder Goyal who has come under much heat for his tweet where he labelled 0.1% of protestors as miscreants recently shared video footage on X (formerly Twitter) backing his previous comments about how certain ‘miscreants’ are coercing willing workers to join the protest under the threat of violence.
Goyal on Tuesday posted three videos on the social media platform that show delivery partners being beaten, verbally abused, and chased on public roads by men raising serious concerns about worker safety and the manner in which protests are unfolding.
“I am all for peaceful protests against anything and everything. But violent protests and stopping others who want to work from working is not okay (proof attached),” Goyal said in his latest post.
Latest post reveals new identity of miscreants
Developing on his previous stance, Goyal made another revelation in his latest post where he mentioned that a number of these protesters who were seen causing trouble in the video clips were not even Zomato’s delivery partners but were ‘agents of political interests’ who piggybanked on the narrative to put out a political message.
Why are the protests happening?
Platform workers for Blinkit and Zomato (along with Swiggy, Zepto, and Amazon recently launched nationwide protests and strikes, most recently on December 25 and December 31, opposing lower effective payouts per order, frequent changes to incentive slabs despite rising fuel and maintenance costs.
Organised by unions like the Indian Federation of App-based Transport Workers (IFAT), these actions aim to address systemic issues in India’s gig economy. On the nationwide strike by gig workers, a delivery partner told news agency IANS, “After working for the whole day for 12, 14 hours, it comes to around Rs 1,000. After deducing 300-400 for petrol, I save only Rs 500-600. There is extreme cold, there’s a Protest and our payment should increase”.
Workers have also protested the arbitrary deactivation or “blocking” of their work IDs without clear explanations or a fair grievance redressal process.
Why is Deepinder under fire?
Deepinder Goyal came under heavy fire earlier this week when he took to X to praise Blinkit and Zomato’s record delivery numbers and thanked the local police for ‘keeping miscreants in check’. This post by Goyal sparked significant backlash and led many across the country to call out the founder for labeling desperate workers as miscreants .