Kunal Kamra’s Video On Workers’ Rights ‘Rating Nahi Haq Chahiye’ Targets Startups

Wikipedia calls him an Indian standup comedian, but Kunal Kamra has long been known for taking on the establishment in various ways. His latest video ‘Rating Nahi Haq Chahiye’, uploaded on his social handles including YouTube and X on Thursday evening, takes the activism route for Indian gig workers and is garnering substantial likes and comments from fans.

The nearly five minute long rap video rails against behemoths like Zomato, Flipkart, Swiggy, Amazon, Ola, Uber, Urban Company and others, pointing out that gig workers are not slaves of the companies they work for and deserve better treatment, bemoans the lack of security for gig workers, mostly delivery personnel. “Insaan hai hum, gulam nahi”, says the video.

Rating Nahi Haq Chahiye supports gig workers’ rights

The video titled Rating Nahi Haq Chahiye (Want rights, not ratings) cheekily refrains from giving out credits for the video, instead crediting ‘tears of workers’ as the lyricists and gives special thanks to ‘no one’.

The video has garnered 97k views as of Friday morning on YouTube where Kamra has over 2 million followers, while on X, where he has 2.4 million followers, Kamra has been relentlessly following up with a jab at the companies he has targeted.

Activism laced with music, where hard hitting lyrics and catchy beats make for a potent combination, have had the potential to find its target. In 2015, rapper Sofia Ashraf had created a video against Hindustan Unilever (HUL) which came down hard on the FMCG major company’s mercury contamination in Kodaikanal. The video went viral with over 4.2 million views, and prompted the company to respond.

Kamra’s video takes up cudgels on behalf of millions of gig workers, who often work for no benefits and perks. “Mujhe chahiye pension, na ki future ki koi tension. Mujhe chahiye security, mujhe chahiye chutti…” it points out.

Rating Nahi Haq Chahiye wants answers from companies

It also calls out the tech and service companies who employ these workers as well as consumers for lack of empathy. A series of news clippings highlighting the hardships that gig workers face run in the background of the video. Swiggy, Zomato, Dunzo, Urban Company, Uber founder, Ola founder, Blinkit, Rapido, Amazon, Flipkart, PharmEasy, Myntra, bigbasket, Porter, and Zepto are all named in Kamra’s video. On Friday morning, Kamra followed up with posts on X, asking the founders of the companies he is targeting for answers.

Kamra has been known for his observational comedy about the absurdities of life. His performances over the years have included jokes about politics, cabbies, bachelor life and TV advertisements.