A Facebook post has gone viral on social media which suggests that Muslim cab drivers in Delhi are collecting data of pro-BJP riders and sharing it on WhatsApp group to give them low ratings.
This is dangerous. Don’t discuss politics with cab drivers unless you are a rich and powerful journalist. Read ?? pic.twitter.com/JzFwTWaB7a
— Shash (@pokershash) January 13, 2020
As per a tweet by Twitter user @pokershah, in a Facebook post, a protestor returning from Mandi House anti-CAA protests held last week was injured and hence booked a cab. According to the post, the protestor overheard the cab driver, one Aslam, talk to someone and managed to catch ‘Sanghi saale’ being spoken from other end.
As the protestor was injured, Aslam went to nearby medical store to get some first aid when the protestor looked into the phone and saw a WhatsApp group wherein Aslam and few other Muslim cab drivers were sharing details of their riders. They were allegedly discussing giving low ratings to pro-BJP riders.
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As per the Facebook post, these Muslim cab drivers also collected information of pickup and drop locations of these ‘Sanghis’ so they could ‘avoid’ them. The rider, instead of feeling alarmed that someone is profiling them and collecting personal information, actually thought this was funny.
Later, as per the rider, the cab driver Aslam told her that some riders cancel their rides when they see the driver is a Muslim. Hence, when cab riders ask him his political views, he just tells them he is a Modi supporter. That way, the pro-BJP riders give him higher ratings and he ends up giving lower ratings to these riders.
While OpIndia could not independently verify the claims in the above post, if true, this raises a number of questions. How is anyone, irrespective of religion, collecting and sharing personal information of riders safe? How do ‘liberals’ find the idea of cab drivers collecting and sharing personal information and profiling people based on political ideology funny?
