New Delhi — India's foreign minister has demanded an apology from online retail giant Amazon.com Inc for selling doormats depicting the Indian flag through its Canadian retail website.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj warned in a Twitter message on Wednesday that she could deny Indian visas to Amazon employees if the company did not apologize and "withdraw all products insulting our national flag immediately."
"If this is not done forthwith, we will not grant an Indian visa to any Amazon official. We will also rescind the visas issued earlier," Swaraj tweeted.
India is not the only country whose flag was featured on a doormat, which were sold by a third party on the website. Amazon sells similar mats showing flags of the US, UK, Canada and other countries.
Swaraj ordered the embassy in Canada to take up the matter with Amazon "at the highest level."
The site removed the Indian-themed product, however, following Swaraj's Twitter threat.
The flag doormats had outraged many among the Indian diaspora in Canada, who posted pictures of them on social media and urged the foreign minister to formally object.
@amazonIN India is not USA where you can put national flag even on bikini. Culture is different. so don't repeat mistakes @amazonIN
— SATYASWARUP MOHANTY (@SATYASWARUP) January 12, 2017
INDIA:1st GuiltyParty Who Manufactured DoorMats Looks Like our National Flag.
2nd GuiltyParty Who is Marketing Despite Knowing Indian Flag!
— Hemant kumar Desai (@hkvdesaihemant) January 12, 2017
@SushmaSwaraj Amazon is selling their own countries flag as door mat.
How can we expect love on India? #Amazon #Indianflag #Usflag pic.twitter.com/fpLSx8DzQN
— Theirritated Indian (@IrritatedIndia) January 12, 2017
@nextbigwhat very good step by ministry. We need assert what is India's opinion. Walking on flag is not our culture.
— Darshan Patil (@darshancpatil) January 12, 2017
In India, insulting the national flag is punishable with fines and imprisonment.
Last year, there were protests after the online marketplace offered doormats depicting Hindu gods.