Two US-based online retailers have drawn controversy for hurting Hindu sentiments as they are selling footwear with ‘Om’ symbol and beer with Lord Ganesha’s picture on its label. There were two separate complaints made at the Prashant Vihar police station by Naresh Kadyan, who is an animal rights activist. He is also the commissioner (headquarters) at Bharat Scouts & Guides. The first complaint was made against a website https://yeswevibe.com that sells shoes and has drawn ire by selling shoes with Om symbol. The second complaint was made against http://www.lostcoast.com that used Lord Ganesha’s photos on their beer bottles.
The first complaint specifies that the symbol Om is affiliated with religious feelings and beliefs of the Hindu community around the world, reports Mail Today. The complaint reads, “ Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs, violated the different sections of the laws of land, including 295 A and 153 A of the IPC.”
In a statement to Mail Today, MN Tiwari, deputy commissioner of police (Rohini district) told, “The officers have been instructed to take necessary legal action against the complaint soon.” However, there wasn’t any FIR registered until late Monday, which propelled Kadyan to pen down an official letter to the Ministry of External Affairs to register an FIR against the defaulter websites, directing them to remove the products from sale at the earliest.
The website https://yeswe-vibe.com operates from Scottsdale city in Arizona, and sells the shoes at $59.99 as per http://www.whois.com. The website also specifies that the shoes are hand-made and promises delivery within two-three days in the US and two-three weeks globally.
On contacting the customer care centre via email, Kadyan was reverted with a mesaage that read, “ We’ll forward this to our top management and get back to you soon.” The website http://www.lostcoast.com is an award-winning brewery situated in Eureka, California. According to Raveena, “ This innocuous trend of using Hindu symbols on fashion or marketing accessories reveals the sellers’ insatiable greed for making profits.” Raveena works as an activist with Hindu Human Rights.
This news of Hindu sentiments getting hurt in USA is not for the first time as it comes weeks after foreign affairs minister Sushma Swaraj warned Amazon Canada to apologise for selling doormats with India’s tri-colour printed on it. Soon after her warnings, #BoycottAmazon started trending on the social media with enraged people venting out their anger. Prior to these events, earlier too holy religious symbols on footwear and clothes have raised fingers from the Hindu community worldwide. A Seattle-based toiletries landed up in controversy after printing images of Lord Ganesha and Maa Kali on their toilet seats.