‘Champagne Socialists’: Business Leaders Hit Back As Gig Workers' Strike Fuels Class Debate

Sanjeev Bikhchandani, founder of Info Edge, launched a scathing attack on those backing the recent gig workers’ strike, calling them hypocritical elites who, he said, shed “crocodile tears” over alleged exploitation while living lives of privilege.

“Every word is true,” Sanjeev Bikhchandani wrote, backing Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal’s defence of the gig economy. Without naming anyone directly, he accused what he described as “champagne socialists” of posturing about workers’ rights.

“It beggars belief that someone who married a film star, had a designer wedding in Udaipur and a first wedding anniversary in the Maldives has the audacity to then talk about exploitation of gig workers,” he wrote, adding, “Aam Aadmi my foot.”

Very well written @deepigoyal

Every word is true. It beggars belief that a Champagne Socialist who married a film star and had a designer wedding in Udaipur and a first wedding anniversary in Maldives has the audacity to then shed crocodile tears around alleged exploitation of… https://t.co/pgcTa0hwKy

— Sanjeev Bikhchandani (@sbikh) January 2, 2026

Sanjeev Bikhchandani’s remarks came in response to a long and widely shared post by Deepinder Goyal who framed the backlash against the gig economy as a moral and emotional reckoning with class inequality rather than a straightforward labour dispute.

“For centuries, class divides kept the labour of the poor invisible to the rich,” Deepinder Goyal wrote, arguing that the gig economy had shattered that invisibility at scale.

“This is the first time in history that the working class and the consuming class interact face-to-face, transaction after transaction. And that discomfort with our own selves is why we are uncomfortable about the gig economy,” he wrote.

Deepinder Goyal warned that many of the proposed “solutions” were less about dignity and more about restoring invisibility.

“Ban gig work and you don’t solve inequality. You remove livelihoods,” he said, adding that over-regulation would push workers back into informal, unprotected cash economies.

He said, “The rich get their old comfort back. Convenience returns without faces. Guilt dissolves.”

The sharp exchange unfolded against the backdrop of a large-scale strike by app-based delivery workers across India over New Year’s Eve. Tens of thousands of workers stayed off the roads, protesting what they described as relentless pressure from platforms, including ultra-fast delivery promises of under 10 minutes in traffic-clogged cities.

The workers demanded fair pay, an immediate rollback of aggressive delivery timelines and an end to automated systems that penalise them for delays through ratings and pay cuts.

As criticism of quick-commerce and delivery platforms grew online, Akhilesh Mishra of the BlueKraft Digital Foundation weighed in with a historical warning. Drawing parallels with the decline of industrial hubs such as Kanpur, Akhilesh Mishra argued that aggressive pro-worker politics had previously destroyed competitive industries, leaving workers worse off.

“What happened to Kanpur must not be allowed to happen to India’s tech sector,” Akhilesh Mishra wrote, claiming that the gig economy represents one of the first large-scale, made-in-India employment models built for Indian markets.

He said, “Cripple it and jobs will vanish. The Communists will win. Everyone else will lose.”

This entire Gig Economy debate reminds me of what they did to Kanpur.

Kanpur was THE ONLY industrial town in North India. It produced some of India’s best brands, including a scooter to rival the mighty Bajaj during its peak and other pan-India textile brands.

Then the “pro…

— Akhilesh Mishra (@amishra77) January 2, 2026

Returning to the broader debate, Deepinder Goyal said the controversy ultimately exposed a deeper truth about Indian society.

“We aren’t just debating economics. We are confronting guilt,” he wrote, pointing out that a single food order could equal a delivery worker’s entire day’s earnings after costs.

He said, “The doorbell is not the problem. The question is what we do after opening the door.”