Amazon Canada In Trouble For Selling Indian Flag Doormats

Amazon, the online retailer, is under fire following the demand of India’s external affairs minister on Twitter, ordering the company to remove an item she claims insults the national flag.

The Twitter hurricane started after a tweet informed Minister Sushma Swaraj that Amazon.ca was selling doormats which had the Indian flag printed on them.

Although it was sold by a third-party, the product has been the center of some online controversy and the subject of a change.org petition, demanding its removal.

On Wednesday, she tweeted that the product was unacceptable and requested that the Indian High Commission in Canada take it up with Amazon at the highest level.

She then pressed for an “unconditional apology” from Amazon and a “withdrawal of all products insulting our national flag immediately”.

She further threatened Amazon, stating that she would refuse Indian visas to any Amazon official and revoke previously issued visas, if the products concerned weren’t removed.

Alongside seven million followers, Swaraj is an active Twitter user and constantly employs social media to carry out her affairs. In July 2016, she tweeted that laid-off Indian workers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia would be catered for following thousands of workers having lost their jobs.

Amazon Replies

A spokesperson for Amazon Canada, in a statement to CBC News, stated “the item is no longer for sale on the site.”

This is not the first time the online retailer has come under attack for selling offensive products. In 2015, a long-time customer who had fought for the removal of Nazi paraphernalia from the online store was profiled by CBC Go Public.

Amazon has endeavored to establish dominance in India’s online market, which has been described as the world’s next big e-commerce opportunity. Despite this, it faces strong competition from India-based rival Flipkart which began operation in 2007 by two former Amazon employees.