India on Wednesday threatened visa boycott against global e-tail giant Amazon for selling doormats bearing the image of the national flag. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj announced on social media that the company officials would be denied visas if these doormats were not withdrawn.
“Amazon must tender unconditional apology. They must withdraw all products insulting our national flag immediately,” said Ms. Swaraj on Twitter, and added, “if this is not done forthwith, we will not grant Indian visa to any Amazon official. We will also rescind the visas issued earlier.”
Demanding action, Ms. Swaraj said, “Indian High Commission in Canada: This is unacceptable. Please take this up with Amazon at the highest level,” after she received photographs of doormats from her followers on Twitter.
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Huge response
The messages from Ms. Swaraj drew huge online response, including some from Twitter handles of the e-tailer that stated that the product was not sold in India. “These products were never sold on Amazon.in [the company’s Indian wing]. We have escalated this to our concerned teams and are working on the issue.”