Amazon has once again courted controversy for allegedly selling toilet covers and foot mats emblazoned with images of Golden Temple-the holiest shrine of Sikhism.
Enraged over the “blasphemous” act, the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Committee president, Manjinder Singh Sirsa on Saturday lodged a police report against the e-commerce giant for allowing its sellers to put up the “highly offensive” products for sale.
Expressing his outrage on Twitter, Mr Sirsa said Amazon was displaying “recklessness towards Sikh sentiments.”
This isn’t the first time that Amazon has drawn ire from members of the Sikh community. It was earlier called out for selling similar goods in 2018.
Lashing out at the online retail major in a separate video clip on Twitter, Mr Sirsa claimed that Amazon was continuing to sell “disrespectful” mats and toilet accessories despite issuing an apology to the Sikh community not so long ago.
He added that Amazon at the time had said that the objectionable products were being sold on the platform in the US by "third-party sellers" and that they had taken steps to remove them from their listings.
SBS Punjabi has seen a letter that the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee claims Amazon sent in December 2018 to the Sikh body to apologise for selling the offensive merchandise.
Similar incidents were also reported in 2016 and again in 2019 when Amazon received backlash from the Hindu community for allegedly selling doormats carrying their religious iconography.
In 2017 the online retailer ran into trouble with the then the External Affairs Minister of India, Sushma Swaraj, over listing doormats themed on India's national-flag.
At the time of the incident, Ms Swaraj had demanded Amazon to withdraw the objectionable products and tender an unconditional apology for “insulting” the Indian flag.
Ms Swaraj had also threatened not to issue visas to the company officials if the products were not removed.
