Hindus demanded Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group to immediately withdraw doormats carrying images of Hindu deities Lord Krishna and Lord Ganesha from its portal, terming this as highly inappropriate.
Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA), said, it was shocking to visualize that Alibaba, for its mercantile greed, was apparently persuading the world to scrub/wipe the soles of their shoes before entering a building/bathroom on the faces of images of gods which Hindus worshipped.
He also urged Alibaba group to offer a formal apology.
Rajan Zed added that Hindu deities Lord Ganesha and Lord Krishna were highly revered in Hinduism and worshipped in temples or home shrines.
Depicted such personalities image on doormats is inappropriate or concepts for commercial or other agenda was not okay as it hurt the devotees.
Alibaba group making these doormats for putting one’s feet on for cleaning or sweeping on or to “dry wet feet, grab dirt, dust and grime”, as was the case here, is disturbing to the Hindus world over, he said.
Hindus were for free artistic expression and speech as much as anybody else if not more. But faith was something sacred and attempts at trivializing it hurt the followers, Zed added.
Chinese based Alibaba Group operates globally and it has offices in Hong Kong, Taiwan, USA, United Kingdom, Italy, France, Germany, Netherlands, Japan, India and Australia.
