I am veg but will eat beef in support of freedom, says MakeMyTrip co-founder; Twitter erupts

There has been a lot of debate over the Narendra Modi-led government’s notification on banning sale of cattle for slaughter. There are those who support it and some who are against it as well. And while the debate rages on, co-founder of travel aggregator MakeMyTrip Keyur Joshi also expressed his views on Twitter on this matter, but was at the receiving end of some harsh comments.

Joshi said that while he is a vegetarian and a strong supporter of Narendra Modi, he would now eat beef in support of freedom.

This was followed up with another tweet, “If Hinduism takes away right to choice of food, I rather not be a Hindu.”

This was met with severe criticism with a few even demanding an explanation from MakeMyTrip. 

The company soon responded saying Joshi is not an active employee and that his views are his personal thoughts.

The views expressed by Mr.Joshi on Twitter are his personal thoughts & do not reflect the views of MMT. He is not a current employee of MMT

— MakeMyTrip.com (@makemytrip) May 31, 2017

But this did not stop many from going ahead and down rating the app and even uninstalling the app.

Call all nationalists and pro-hindu activists to #BoycottMakeMyTrip for hurting Hindu sentiments @republic @RealArnabG @MALAVIKAAVINASH pic.twitter.com/ympUsAWsFD

— #GiveUpAMeal Shishir (@shishir_heg) May 31, 2017

I Am A Avid Traveller Across India & Around the Globe, I Pledge To #BoycottMakeMyTrip Seeing Callous Attitude of @KeyurJoshi_ @makemytrip pic.twitter.com/vEH9nAOZKM

— JAY (@YesIamSaffron) June 1, 2017

Looking at the kind of backlash, Joshi tried clarifying himself but criticism only grew.

So the threat of backlash on @makemytrip made @KeyurJoshi_ do a quick somersault. RW has become evil! pic.twitter.com/v2YuvW4QYy

— हम भारत के लोग (@India_Policy) May 31, 2017

Joshi then posted an ‘unconditional’ apology but with the Twitter trolls not backing down even then, he eventually deactivated his account. 

Recently, Snapchat too faced something similar after founder Evan Spiegel’s remarks about India being ‘poor’. Interestingly, Snapdeal also got caught in the online vitriol after many confused it with Snapchat.