It’s politics and ridesharing in conversation here, but it’s more like politics when you want it on a soap opera.
Here’s the premise: the transport minister in Maharashtra, India has asked Rapido, one of the biggest and most popular ridesharing apps in the South Asian nation, to sponsor his son’s event. This is after he tagged the app “illegal” because of his personal experience with it.
Double standards? Here’s the scoop.
Facing hatred
The minister, Pratap Sarnaik, is now facing widespread opposition and criticism after he had the guts to contact Rapido for his son’s event even after he has called the app “illegal.”
Rapido is a ride-hailing service headquartered in India, mainly operating as your bike taxi aggregator. It also offers auto rickshaw and taxicab hailing, as well as parcel deliveries and third-party logistics services, just like many other platforms around or in your locality.
Funny as this may sound, Rapido is currently one of the major sponsors of the Pro-Govinda League, a Dahi Handi competition that the minister’s son, Purvesh, has organized in Mumbai this year.
This popular event in Maharashtra is a festival venerating one of the Indian lords, Krishna. It involves forming human pyramids to reach and break an earthen pot filled with dahi or yogurt, and other dairy products, suspended high in the air.
What happened then
A month ago before this sponsorship, Minister Sarnaik exposed Rapido for being “illegal” after he himself tried the app to verify another senior official’s claim that their bike taxi services were “not functional.”
Under a pseudonym, he booked the app and the driver arrived in no time, within 10 minutes, specifically. The driver was stunned to see and find out that he was driving a high-ranking official.
“I am the Transport Minister. These rules are for your benefit,” the minister was heard saying, according to the video circulating on X.
So, it was like an undercover mission for the minister, but without basis.
He went on, “You came here, for that I am giving you Rs 500,” the rider refused to accept the money, so he continued, "We will not gain anything by filing a case against a poor person like you. But the people behind the illegal operation should be punished. That is our intention.”
Slammed by Congress officials
This time, when others learned that Rapido is sponsoring the ministers’s son’s event, officials from the Congress thought, “What stunt is he trying to do?”
Over on Twitter, Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar posted, "The Transport Minister deserves congratulations for demonstrating to the Maharashtra government how to raise funds for their event. First, book a bike through a private app, then catch the poor, unsuspecting bike rider, perform a stunt claiming that riding a bike through the app is against the rules, make videos of it to promote how smart and alert the Transport Minister is, and build their own image. And then, obtain funding for the event from these private app companies that are in trouble – what a brilliant idea.”
Mockery, abuse of power
What’s even worse is that Maharashtra is currently in difficult financial troubles, the Congress stated, so he’s stunned to see various departments resort “to such stunts.”
Other officials say it is an “abuse of ministerial power.”
What’s even worse? Minister Sarnaik defended his actions, saying that his son’s Pro-Govinda League events should not be associated with politics, emphasizing that Rapido is a long sponsor of the event since the league started. It is actually Rapido’s third year with the event.
His son defended himself, too, saying, "Apart from Rapido, there are other sponsors too. Rohit Pawar should not bring politics into the game. This event has no relation to Pratap Sarnaik. I am the president of the Pro-Govinda League.”
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