In a unique effort to highlight the challenges faced by gig workers, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Raghav Chadha spent a day working as a delivery agent with quick-commerce platform Blinkit on Monday. Sharing a video on social media, Chadha donned Blinkit’s yellow uniform, wore a helmet, and rode pillion on a delivery motorbike as he accompanied a worker completing orders across the city.
“This was my day away from boardrooms, at the grassroots. I lived their day,” Chadha wrote alongside the video, which shows him experiencing firsthand the pressures and realities of delivery work.
Chadha’s initiative comes amid increasing demands from gig workers for policy reforms, including an end to ultra-fast delivery timelines like the 10-minute model, which they argue compromise safety and well-being. He has previously raised these issues in Parliament, conducted interviews with delivery agents, and hosted one for lunch to understand their concerns about pay, job security, and safety.
The AAP MP has been vocal about corporate practices in the gig economy. He criticised delivery platforms after strikes by workers, following comments by Blinkit and Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal, who called striking workers “miscreants” while defending the platforms’ role in creating large-scale employment. Chadha responded, “Workers asking for fair pay are not criminals… they deserve better than to be called ‘miscreants’ for asking to be treated as human beings.”
Earlier, Goyal had tweeted that deliveries during the New Year’s Eve rush were completed at record pace with “support from local law enforcement,” despite calls for strikes. Chadha emphasised that his push for reforms would continue both inside and outside Parliament until gig workers receive fair treatment and accountability from platform companies.