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Raghav Chadha defends gig workers’ rights, challenging startup leaders like Amitabh Kant and Deepinder Goyal over pay and safety, while facing personal attacks from critics.
After startup leaders hit back, Chadha defends his stand on fair pay and dignity, saying innovation cannot come at workers’ cost. (IMAGE: X/@RaghavChadha)
In a fresh, nearly 1,000-word post, Aam Aadmi Party MP Raghav Chadha on Saturday hit back at critics over his support for protesting gig workers, accusing sections of the startup ecosystem of misrepresenting labour demands and attempting to discredit him personally instead of addressing concerns around pay, safety and dignity.
Chadha said he remained firmly pro-business and pro-startup, arguing that innovation and entrepreneurship were essential for India’s growth.
However, he drew a sharp distinction between supporting industry and endorsing what he described as “exploitation dressed up as progress”, insisting that success could not be built by squeezing workers who do the hardest work in the system.
The AAP MP’s remarks come days after he spent New Year’s Eve with delivery partners at Old Rajinder Nagar in Delhi, where workers from platforms such as Zomato, Swiggy and Blinkit held a symbolic protest demanding fair pay, predictable rules, safety and social security.
Chadha had described their demands as legitimate and said platforms had scaled not on algorithms alone but on human labour.
His intervention triggered sharp pushback from parts of the startup ecosystem.
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
Former NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant accused Chadha and the AAP of politicising the gig economy, calling them “job killers” and warning that such criticism could threaten livelihoods in a sector he described as consumer-led and a major job creator.
Kant cited projections showing gig jobs growing sharply by 2030 and defended the model as market-driven.
Quick commerce also entered the debate after Zomato and Blinkit founder Deepinder Goyal rejected claims that 10-minute delivery promises put pressure on riders.
Goyal said deliveries were enabled by dense store networks and system design, not by forcing delivery partners to ride fast, adding that workers did not see customer delivery timers on their apps.
The exchange also turned personal, with Info Edge founder Sanjeev Bikhchandani taking a swipe at Chadha over his lifestyle. In a post, Bikhchandani dismissed the AAP MP as a “champagne socialist” and accused him of shedding “crocodile tears” over alleged exploitation, questioning his credibility to speak on workers’ rights.
In his long post, Chadha alleged that criticism of his stance quickly turned into what he described as a coordinated campaign.
He claimed identical talking points flooded social media, influencers and PR firms defended platforms despite having no prior record of engaging with labour issues, and personal calls were made seeking favourable posts. “I have been in this long enough to recognise a paid campaign when I see one,” he wrote.
Addressing personal attacks on his lifestyle, Chadha said he would not be distracted by insinuations, arguing that debate should focus on the working conditions of gig workers rather than individual privilege.
Acknowledging that he had been fortunate, Chadha said that was precisely why he would use his platform to demand fairness for those with fewer choices.
“The question is simple,” he wrote. “Will we build India’s growth on dignity and safety, or on pressure and insecurity?”
January 03, 2026, 15:35 IST
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