New Delhi: Days after external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj severely reprimanded Amazon for selling doormats featuring the Indian flag , economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das on Sunday warned the US-based etailer to “desist from being flippant about Indian symbols and icons”.
“Amazon, better behave. Desist from being flippant about Indian symbols and icons. Indifference will be at your own peril,” Mr Das tweeted.
His message evoked mixed reactions on the social media. “Expressed words and status don’t match. There are other ways too to tackle the issue than threatening on social media,” said one Twitter user.
“Maybe we can improve India's image by trying to stop the sale of rape videos in our country first?” said another. “Disappointed. Even bureaucrats are matching up the politicians,” read one more tweet.
Later in the day, Mr Das explained that he made the comment on Amazon as a citizen of India as "I felt strongly about it.” He took to the Twitter again to say: “Nothing more should be read into it.” Mr Das said that he remained committed to economic reforms, ease of doing business and open trade. “Sometimes get touchy when our icons are involved,” he added.
Last week, Ms Swaraj had threatened that Indian visas will no longer be granted to Amazon officials if the company didn’t tender an unconditional apology after it was brought to her notice that doormats depicting the Indian tricolour were on sale on its Canada website. After her tweet, Amazon removed the controversial products from its website and tendered an apology to the minister.
However, the minister has now received complaints about Amazon selling flip-flops with Mahatma Gandhi’s picture on them.
The e-commerce giant is betting big on Indian market and has announced multi-billion dollar investments to capture leadership position in one of the fastest-growing segment in the country after it missed a similar opportunity in China to Alibaba.
