NEW DELHI (AP) – India’s foreign minister has demanded an apology from online retail giant Amazon.com Inc. for selling doormats depicting the Indian flag through its Canadian retail website.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj warned in a Twitter message on Wednesday that she could deny Indian visas to Amazon employees if the company did not apologize and “withdraw all products insulting our national flag immediately.”
“If this is not done forthwith, we will not grant an Indian visa to any Amazon official. We will also rescind the visas issued earlier,” Swaraj tweeted.
India is not the only country whose flag was featured on a doormat, which were sold by a third party on the website.
Amazon sells similar mats showing flags of the US, UK, Canada and other countries.
Swaraj ordered the embassy in Canada to take up the matter with Amazon “at the highest level.”
The site removed the Indian-themed product, however, following Swaraj’s Twitter threat.
In India, insulting the national flag is punishable with fines and imprisonment.