After the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS) on Friday submitted a memorandum asking action against Amazon India for selling an 'obscene painting of Lord Krishna with Radha' on their website, the e-commerce company got itself in trouble.
The note was sent by the group to the Subramanya Nagar police station in Bengaluru.
The painting was offered for sale on the Exotic India website as part of their Janmashtami sale. The painting was offered for sale on Amazon by Bengaluru-based vendor Inkologie.
Later, Exotic India apologised via Twitter, writing, “It was brought to our notice that an inappropriate image was uploaded on our website. The same was brought down immediately. We sincerely apologise, Pls don't #Boycott_ExoticIndia #boycott_exoticlndia… Hare Krsna [sic]”.
HJS responded to Exotic India's tweet by writing, "Thank you for your quick action. We are grateful that you apologised unconditionally and deleted the paintings. We expect you to edit the content on your website to protect Hindu sensibilities. (sic)”
Amazon is yet to make any statement regarding the incident.
HJS tweeted that “Amazon and Exotic India must tender an unconditional apology and pledge not to hurt sentiments of Hindus ever again.”
Amazon has stirred up controversy in the past for allegedly offending 'religious sentiments.' After it was discovered that toilet seat coverings and other things featuring images of Hindu gods were being offered on the internet, a complaint was filed against its US website in 2019.
Twitter users demanded action against the largest online retailer in the world and some even tagged the late Sushma Swaraj, India's then-foreign minister, in their calls for a boycott of the e-commerce site.
The Seattle, Washington-based company was criticised once more in 2017 after it was discovered that doormats bearing images of the Indian flag were being sold on the company's Canadian website. If the items were not taken down from the internet or withdrawn, Swaraj had then threatened to revoke the visas of Amazon employees.
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