Twitter user asks for Hindu driver, here's how Ola Cabs responded

Twitterati on Tuesday were aghast after an unusual and shocking request was made to Ola cabs, a cab service, by a user. Seelam Veerapa Naidu, who identifies himself on Twitter as a physician among other esoteric things, expressed a wish to customise his travel in Hyderabad, down to the religion details of the driver.

Since he was a Hindu, he preferred drivers belonging to the Hindu faith alone, he said, requesting the cab service to give customers an option to choose their drivers as well. The tweet quickly attracted social media's wrath, which may have led to him backtracking and deleting the tweet  later.

However, Ola was quick to respond to the request in the negative. 

@SVeerapaNaidu Sorry, we do not discriminate against our drivers on the basis of their religion.

— Ola (@Olacabs) April 6, 2015

Naidu later attempted to defend his tweet, saying he he did not 'intend to hurt any one'.

@Olacabs Why Shld we see it as Discrimination instead of Customer Preference.

— Seelam Veerapa Naidu (@SVeerapaNaidu) April 6, 2015

@Olacabs My intention is not to hurt any one .

— Seelam Veerapa Naidu (@SVeerapaNaidu) April 7, 2015

While Naidu faced a lot of criticism from Twitter users, Ola Cab's response garnered praise, including a virtual pat on the back by rival cab operator Uber as well as former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.

@Uber_Delhi Thank you, appreciate it.

— Ola (@Olacabs) April 7, 2015

Well done @Olacabs. More power to you. https://t.co/H2T4Ruh28f

— Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) April 7, 2015