#ZomatoUninstalled, #BoycottUberEats trend after 'food is religion' tweet

Even as the incident had social media divided, the Jabalpur police sought an undertaking from the Zomato customer that he would not spread religious hatred.

Business Standard : A day after Zomato snubbed a customer who refused an order from a non-Hindu rider, #ZomatoUninstalled trended on Twitter on Thursday, with many accusing the online food delivery platform of bias. #BoycottUberEats also caught on after UberEats backed its rival’s “Food has no religion” comment.

Even as the incident had social media divided, the Jabalpur police in Madhya Pradesh sought an undertaking from the Zomato customer that he would not spread religious hatred. The controversy began on Tuesday when a Zomato customer tweeted: “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.”

In response, the official Twitter handle of Zomato tweeted, “Food doesn’t have a religion. It is a religion.”

Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal tweeted: “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.”

While several Twitter users came out in support of Goyal, others agreed with the customer and pulled out examples of complaints where Zomato did not take a similar stand. The tweet that began the entire issue was, however, deleted by Thursday morning.

Hashtags like #boycottzomato trended on Wednesday, #ZomatoUninstalled gathered steam on Thursday.

"Bye bye Zomato, you lost one precious customer, many more to come… Don't support one side if you can't resolve the issue. #Zomato Uninstalled,” tweeted one user. Many uninstalled UberEats’ app as well, and tweeted #BoycottUberEats for supporting Zomato.

This is not the first time religious issues have prompted users to uninstall an app. 

#BoycottAmazon had trended on Twitter in May after toilet seat covers and other items with images of Hindu gods were spotted. In 2015, Snapdeal faced #BoycottSnapdeal after its then brand ambassador Aamir Khan said he may consider moving out of India with his family.