Amazon removed doormats depicting the Indian flag from its website Wednesday after Indian government officials threatened to withhold and rescind visas from the retail giant’s officials and representatives.
The doormats, offered with various countries' flags on them, were sold through a third-party seller on Amazon’s Canadian portal, Reuters reported. However, laws in India prohibit any desecration of its flag and punish offenders with fines and even jail time.
When complaints began to come into Amazon’s official support account on Twitter, the account responded by saying the mats were not sold on the Indian portal. The concerns continued and were picked up by India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj who asked the Indian High Commission in Canada to address the issue with Amazon, Reuters said.
Comments and low ratings soon inundated the flag’s listing page, with many users expressing their outrage at the doormats and saying they insulted India.
“Amazon must tender unconditional apology,” Swaraj said on Twitter. “They must withdraw all products insulting our national flag immediately.”
Amazon plans to invest more than $5 billion into India, and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said last year that India was the company’s fastest-growing region, Reuters reported.
Amazon is not commenting on Swaraj’s tweets or its decision to remove the Indian flag doormat.
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