India’s online food delivery service Zomato has been praised for standing up to a Hindu customer who complained about having his meal delivered by a Muslim man.

An exchange between customer Amit Shukla and the company on Twitter went viral after the corporate account responded to his complaint, saying: “Food doesn’t have a religion. It is a religion.”

Shukla, who lives in Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, tweeted his complaint under the profile name @NaMo_SARKAAR, suggesting he is a supporter of the “sarkaar” or government of Hindu nationalist prime minister Narendra Modi.

He wrote: “Just cancelled an order on @ZomatoIN they allocated a non hindu rider for my food they said they can’t change rider and can’t refund on cancellation I said you can’t force me to take a delivery I don’t want don’t refund just cancel.”

Zomato told the customer that, as the driver was already outside his home, he would have to pay a 237 rupees (£2.80) cancellation fee. The customer tweeted that the company was “forcing us to take deliveries from people we don’t want” and threatened legal action.

Later Shukla shared a screenshot of an exchange with Zomato’s customer service portal, in which he argued that: “We have Shravan and I don’t need a delivery from a Muslim fellow.”

Shravan is the holiest month in the Hindu calendar, running this year from 17 July to 15 August. Devoted to the god Lord Shiva, it is observed by many Hindus with a fast throughout the period followed by one of the biggest feast days of the year.

And Shukla also gave an interview to the TV channel India Today in which he argued that the issue was a matter of “freedom of expression and religion” and that “at present, the pious month of Shravan is going on and it is a matter of my personal choice”.

Once Zomato’s initial response had been widely shared, the company’s founder Deepinder Goyal followed up with a tweet expanding on its position.

“We are proud of the idea of India – and the diversity of our esteemed customers and partners. We aren’t sorry to lose any business that comes in the way of our values,” he wrote.

The incident has proved divisive among India’s online community, with many politicians and ordinary citizens coming out in support of Zomato’s stance. Uber Eats, a rival service, responded by saying: “ZomatoIN, we stand by you.”

A former minister for the opposition Congress party said the news had inspired him to try online food ordering for the first time, while the ex-chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah, tweeted: “Respect. I love your app. Thank you for giving me a reason to admire the company behind it.”

The driver in question, a man named Faiyaz, told the Press Trust of India that it was only when he called the customer to check he had the right address that he was told the order was being cancelled.

“Yes I feel hurt, but what can I do about it?” he said. “We are poor, we [always] suffer.”

Shukla appeared on Thursday to have deleted his Twitter account amid the furore.