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New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party MP Raghav Chadha on Saturday launched a scathing attack on the business models of quick-commerce and food delivery platforms, arguing in Parliament that the need for police intervention to run such platforms reflects systemic inefficiency.
The Rajya Sabha member’s remarks came a day after Zomato and Blinkit founder Deepinder Goyal described protesting gig workers as “miscreants” in a post on X. Responding without naming Goyal directly, Chadha wrote that delivery partners across India were fighting for “basic dignity, fair pay, safety, predictable rules, and social security.” He said the platforms’ response was not only “insulting” but also “dangerous.” “Workers asking for fair pay are not criminals. If you need police to keep your workers on the road, they are not employees. They are hostages with helmets,” Chadha wrote.
The upper house MP countered Goyal’s claim that a large workforce ensures better scheduling, comparing the argument to the age-old zamindari system and alleging that such exploitative structures had historically endured for centuries. Chadha further claimed that the platforms ran a coordinated public relations campaign against striking workers and their supporters. “PR agencies got paid. Influencers got paid. Hashtags got bought,” he alleged, without presenting immediate evidence. “The only people still waiting for fair payment are the ones delivering your orders,” he added. As of now, Goyal has not responded to Chadha’s remarks.
Earlier, in a post on X, Goyal said the workers’ strike had a limited impact, claiming that Zomato and Blinkit delivered at a record pace on New Year’s Eve, “unaffected by calls for strikes that many of us heard over the past few days.” He added that “support from local law enforcement helped keep the small number of miscreants in check.” Goyal argued that an unfair system would not consistently attract and retain a large workforce, describing the gig economy as one of India’s biggest organised job-creation engines.
Chadha recalled that he had raised the issue of gig workers during Parliament’s winter session and vowed to continue pressing for accountability. In December 2025, he also demanded the scrapping of 10-minute delivery services, calling them “cruel” and arguing that gig workers risk their lives to meet such deadlines.
