Deepinder Goyal claims gig worker protests turned violent, shares video evidence

Deepinder Goyal, CEO of Zomato parent Eternal, has alleged that some protesters who went on strike on December 25 and 30 were not gig workers associated with the company.

In a post on X, Goyal shared several videos of people blocking gig workers from delivering orders, grabbing parcels, threatening, and even hitting them. “They were agents of political interests, piggybacking on the narrative to gain political mileage,” Goyal said.



“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),” he said.

He had previously said in a post that many of the company’s workers did not want to strike. “Most of our delivery partners did not want to go on a strike yesterday. The 0.1% miscreants I mentioned in the tweet below were illegally snatching parcels from those who wanted to work, beating them up, and threatening to damage their bikes. Which is why local law authorities had to intervene on their own,” he wrote.

Also Read: Zomato, Blinkit deliver record high of 75 lakh orders on December 31: Deepinder Goyal

This comes right after Goyal defended the company’s 10-minute delivery model and denied claims of worker exploitation in a series of posts on X. The posts sparked fresh debate around gig workers’ safety, working conditions, and concerns that rapid deliveries encourage traffic violations.

The strike on two of the busiest days of the year was led by the Indian Federation of App-Based Transport Workers and the Telangana Gig and Platform Workers Union. The unions demanded better pay, safer working conditions, and social security benefits. They also called for a ban on 10-minute deliveries, arguing that they put riders’ lives at risk.