Hyderabad, Oct 26: A police complaint has been lodged against a customer of a food delivery app for allegedly refusing to accept food from a delivery boy as he was a Muslim.
Police inspector P Srinivas said they received a complaint from the executive of Swiggy, Mudassir Suleman on Wednesday saying the customer did not accept the ordered food merely because the delivery boy was a Muslim.
"We are in the process of filing a case against the customer and we will be filing an FIR soon," the police official told PTI.
Meanwhile, the delivery boy brought the issue to the notice of the Muslim outfit Majlis Bacao Tehreek president Amjed Ullah Khan who posted the matter in his twitter account.
"The customer ordered chicken-65 and requested for a Hindu delivery boy, but Swiggy sent a Muslim boy for delivering the parcel... and the customer refused to take the parcel."
When contacted, Swiggy, in a statement, said "...we embrace diversity and respect different points of view. Every order is automatically assigned to delivery executives based on their location and availability, among others, and not based on individual preferences. As an organisation, we do not discriminate between our partners and customers on any grounds."
The customer who refused to accept the food item could not be contacted.
Incidentally, the food was ordered from a restaurant run by a Muslim, Khan said.
The incident comes over two months after a similar episode in Madhya Pradesh involving Zomato, another food delivery company.
A Zomato customer had declined to accept the food he ordered because it was brought by a non-Hindu, but the company refused to resolve the complaint, saying food does not have religion.
In response to his request for another delivery man, Zomato had tweeted: "Food doesn't have a religion. It is a religion." The reaction had won the company many admirers.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
New York (PTI): The first-ever life-size statue of Swami Vivekananda in the US was unveiled in Seattle, honouring the renowned Indian philosopher and spiritual leader.
The life-size bronze statue, installed at the busy Westlake Square in downtown Seattle, is the first such installation hosted by a city government anywhere in the US, officials said.
Sculpted by Indian artist Naresh Kumar Kumawat, it was jointly unveiled on Saturday by Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson and Consul General of India in Seattle Prakash Gupta.
"From Chicago 1893 to Seattle 2026! Seattle's skyline has a new Indian icon: Swami Vivekananda! City of Seattle becomes the first city government to host the Swami Vivekananda Monument in the heart of downtown Seattle," the Consulate General of India in Seattle said in a social media post.
Addressing the event, Wilson said the monument reflects Seattle's inclusive spirit and strengthens cultural ties between India and the diverse metropolitan tech hub in the US Pacific Northwest.
The statue has been gifted by the Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) to the City of Seattle in recognition of its "in recognition of the city’s rich multicultural character and spirit of inclusivity", the Indian mission in Seattle said in a statement.
The unveiling of the statue was held on the occasion of the celebration of ICCR Day and is part of India's broader cultural diplomacy initiatives aimed at strengthening people-to-people ties between India and the US Pacific Northwest, the Consulate said.
Located at the bustling Westlake Square, which sees over 400,000 visitors daily, the monument stands near prominent landmarks including the Amazon headquarters ‘Spheres’, the Seattle Convention Centre and the Seattle Centre Monorail.
The unveiling ceremony was attended by several local leaders, including mayors from cities in the Greater Seattle area, community representatives and members of the Indian-American diaspora.
Swami Vivekananda had delivered his historic address at the World’s Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893, introducing Hindu philosophy to a global audience.
