VHP man turns down cab as driver is Muslim, triggers row
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Lucknow: UP-based social media adviser of Vishwa Hindu Parishad kicked up a big row on micro blogging site Twitter, saying he would not travel with a Muslim driver of location-based taxi app Ola.
Following massive outrage on the social media and demands to suspend his account with both Twitter and Ola, the cab service hit back saying their service was strictly a secular platform and the company would not support any views aiding disharmony.
“Cancelling @olacabs booking because driver was Muslim. I don’t want to give my money to jihadis (sic)” wrote Abhishek Mishra. Mishra also enclosed a screenshot of the cancellation. It showed the driver’s name as Masood Alam.
Mishra’s 14,000-plus followers include Union ministers Rajyavardhan Rathore, R K Singh, Mahesh Sharma, Ram Kripal Yadav, Narendra Singh Tomar apart from BJP MPs Manoj Tiwari and party’s UP ministers Swantantra Dev Singh and Suresh Rana.
Though Mishra posted the comment on Friday evening, it got attention only on Sunday afternoon, hours ahead of the first visit of Vishwa Hindu Parishad ’s new international president Vishnu Sadashiv Kokje in Ayodhya to meet priests on Ram Temple clarion call before the 2019 polls.
Responding to his tweet, the Bengaluru-based transportation network company issued a response.
Here is Ola’s full statement:
Ola, like our country, is a secular platform, and we don’t discriminate our driver partners or customers basis their caste, religion, gender or creed. We urge all our customers and driver partners to treat each other with respect at all times.