By Staff
Northwest Asian Weekly
Screenshot from Twitter
Amazon.com removed the doormats carrying images of various Hindu deities from its website within 24 hours after Hindus protested last week.
#BoycottAmazon soon started trending on social media with outraged people venting out on the company.
Images of Hindu gods depicted on the doormats — Shiva, Vishnu, Krishna, Ganesha, Venkateswara, Saraswati, Murugan, Durga-Hanuman, and Padmanabha — are highly revered in Hinduism. President of Universal Society of Hinduism, Rajan Zed, said they are not for absorbing “water and dirt from shoes” or for sweeping on for cleaning or for drying wet feet and grabbing “dirt, dust, and grime.”
Zed thanked Amazon for taking action and for understanding the concerns of the Hindu community.
But he said an official apology from President Jeff Bezos was still due, as it was the company’s third incident in recent years trivializing Hindu deities.
In 2014, after protests spearheaded by Zed, Amazon removed women’s leggings, carrying images of various Hindu deities from its website. Zed suggested that Amazon and other corporations send their senior executives to religious and cultural sensitivity training.
Staff can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.