Raghav Chadha’s Blinkit ride sparks debate: Gesture or genuine insight?

Aam Aadmi Party MP Raghav Chadha on Monday shared a video of himself accompanying a Blinkit delivery worker in Delhi, aiming to draw attention to the pressures faced by gig workers in India’s rapidly expanding quick commerce sector.

The Punjab Rajya Sabha MP shared a 40 second teaser video on X, showing him dressed in Blinkit’s yellow uniform and helmet. In the footage, Chadha is seen riding pillion on a delivery partner’s motorcycle , completing multiple orders across the city. He was not driving the vehicle himself and was accompanied by a filming team, which means the experience may not fully reflect the everyday working conditions of delivery workers operating alone without cameras.

Sharing the video, Chadha tweeted, “Away from boardrooms, at the grassroots. I lived their day. Stay tuned!”

Chadha has been a vocal critic of ultra fast delivery promises, particularly 10 minute delivery targets, arguing that such timelines put delivery workers under severe pressure and force them to take risks on the road. During an earlier Zero Hour discussion in the Rajya Sabha, he urged lawmakers to consider the human cost behind such convenience, saying delivery workers are not machines but individuals with families and responsibilities.

The video comes amid nationwide protests by more than 200,000 gig workers associated with platforms such as Blinkit and Zomato, who have been demanding fair wages, better working conditions, and an end to high pressure delivery targets. Chadha has previously raised these issues through speeches, meetings with riders, and by engaging directly with workers, including inviting a low earning delivery worker named Himanshu to lunch.

While the teaser video has drawn attention to worker safety and pay concerns, a draft policy for gig workers has recently been released , and discussions on its implementation are still ongoing. Chadha indicated that more footage from the experience may be released, which could offer a broader view of delivery work on the ground.

Public reaction to the video has been mixed . Some praised the initiative as a genuine attempt by a lawmaker to understand the realities of gig work, while others criticised it as a political PR exercise , pointing out that riding pillion with camera support does not reflect the risks and pressures faced by workers who operate alone daily.