Aam Aadmi Party MP Raghav Chadha on Thursday defended his support for gig workers who called for a strike earlier this week, responding to criticism from industry figures and business leaders.
Chadha criticised digital platforms for describing striking workers as miscreants and said he was satisfied that his intervention in Parliament had triggered a wider public debate on the working conditions of gig workers.
Delivery partners across India went on strike demanding basic dignity, fair pay, safety, predictable rules and social security. The response from the Platform was to call them "miscreants" and turn a labour demand into a law & order narrative. That is not just insulting, it is…
— Raghav Chadha (@raghav_chadha) January 3, 2026
In a post on X, Chadha said, “Delivery partners across India went on strike demanding basic dignity, fair pay, safety, predictable rules and social security. The response from the Platform was to call them ‘miscreants’ and turn a labour demand into a law & order narrative. That is not just insulting, it is dangerous. Workers asking for fair pay are not criminals. And if your system needs police to keep running on its biggest day, that is not proof the system works. That is an admission it doesn’t. If you needed police to have your workers stay on the road, they’re not employees. They’re hostages with helmets. I am glad my intervention in Parliament has started a nationwide debate.”
The AAP MP said he supported businesses and startups but opposed what he described as exploitation of workers. “I am pro-business and pro-startups. I have stood for innovation and entrepreneurship in Parliament. India needs its builders and risk-takers. I will always back them. But I will never back exploitation dressed as progress,” he said in the post.
Chadha also argued that participation by workers on strike days did not necessarily indicate consent. “When one day’s income decides rent, electricity, or a child’s school fee, logging in on a strike day is not approval, it is survival. It is desperation,” he said, adding that record order volumes were business metrics and not measures of dignity.
He further alleged that board members of platform companies had mounted a coordinated campaign to criticise his outreach to gig workers. “I would have preferred a healthy discussion on pay, safety, and protections. What came instead was coordinated noise,” he said, claiming that similar talking points appeared across social media within hours.
The MP, who had raised the issue of gig worker compensation in the Rajya Sabha, also responded to criticism directed at his personal lifestyle. “My life is transparent. I wonder if the same can be said for the algorithms that decide a worker’s pay,” he said, urging critics to focus instead on improving conditions for gig workers.
Chadha concluded by calling for better treatment of gig workers by platform companies. “Progress is whether the people who make the system run can live with dignity. This is a fight I will see through,” he said.
His remarks came after a series of posts by Sanjeev Bikhchandani, who questioned those behind the strike call and said discussions on delivery partner welfare and compensation remained a priority at platform companies.
Bikhchandani said on X that management and boards were actively engaged on the issue and criticised the organisers of the strike for choosing a public campaign over direct engagement.
The debate followed comments by Deepinder Goyal, who shared data on earnings of delivery partners and defended the gig economy. Goyal said average hourly earnings for delivery partners rose by about 10.9 per cent year-on-year in 2025 to Rs 102, compared to Rs 92 in 2024, excluding tips.
One more thing. Our 10 minute delivery promise is enabled by the density of stores around your homes. It’s not enabled by asking delivery partners to drive fast. Delivery partners don’t even have a timer on their app to indicate what was the original time promised to the…
— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) January 1, 2026
Earlier, Goyal had said the gig economy made labour more visible by enabling direct interaction between workers and consumers, adding that this visibility often led to discomfort and heated public debate around inequality.
Leave a Reply