The gloves seem to be off in the ongoing controversy between delivery platforms and their striking delivery partners.
Noted investor Sanjeev Bikhchandani has appeared to lambast Aam Aadmi Party Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha over his support for ongoing delivery partners strike. “It beggars belief that a Champagne Socialist who married a film star and had a designer wedding in Udaipur and a first wedding anniversary in Maldives has the audacity to then shed crocodile tears around alleged exploitation of gig workers. Aam Aadmi my foot,” Bikhchandani posted on X.
While Bikhchandani didn’t name Chadha directly, it was obvious from the hints that he dropped that he was referring to him. Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal had earlier said that ‘agents of political interests’ were violently preventing delivery workers from doing their jobs.
Raghav Chadha had earlier shared a slickly-produced video in which he was seen interacting with delivery partners. “I sat down with delivery riders of Zomato, Swiggy, Blinkit etc,” Chadha said. “This is not a rant. This is a conversation with those whose lives power our everyday comfort. It’s tragic that millions of delivery riders who helped build instant-commerce companies into what they are today, are now forced to protest just to be heard. These platforms didn’t succeed because of algorithms alone. They succeeded because of human sweat and labour. It’s time companies start treating riders as human beings, not disposable data points. The gig economy cannot become a guilt-free exploitation economy,” he added.
But Chadha did not seem to acknowledge that these delivery partners worked with these platforms of their own free will, presumably because this was the best option available to them. Also, while Chadha seemed to be inciting the delivery partners, he seemed to offer no alternative employment options that these partners could take up. Even in Delhi and Punjab, where his Aam Aadmi party was in power, the government created no new jobs that these delivery partners could pursue instead of resorting to gig work.
Sanjeev Bikhchandani wasn’t the only VC who attacked Raghav Chadha. Navam Capital’s Rajiv Mantri called Chadha an ‘idiot’, and wondered who was funding him. “Find out who is funding this idiot, the new age wannabe Datta Samant…do not underestimate the well-planned and organized campaign underway now to undermine one of the biggest job creating industries in India. This is how industries get destroyed. West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and other states offer historical examples of the results of such militant labour activity,” Rajiv Mantri said on X.
These comments are significant because it’s not every day in India that businessmen take on politicians. Politics is seen to be a revolving door, and businessmen seem to want to maintain cordial relations with politicians even when they’re out of power, lest that they hold a grudge until when they’re back . But Raghav Chadha’s support of this this strike is so beyond the pale that usually dignified businessmen are openly calling him names like ‘idiot’ and saying he’s shedding ‘crocodile tears’. And when the backlash is so severe and open, politicians would do well to think twice about looking to disrupt an industry that provides gainful employment to millions of Indians.