Karnataka Minister Aravind Limbavali has called for a boycott of Amazon, the popular e-commerce website, after its arms in Canada, United Kingdom, Japan and Mexico were found selling a bikini with the state’s colours and emblem on it. A picture of the bikini went viral on social media. “We experienced an insult of Kannada by @Google recently. Even before the scars could heal, we find @amazonca using the colours of #Kannada flag and the kannada icon on ladies’ clothes,” the Karnataka Minister for Forests tweeted. “Multinational companies should stop such repeated insult of #Kannada. This is a matter of Kannadigas' self pride and we will not tolerate the rise in such incidents.@amazonca should, therefore, apologise to Kannadigas. Legal action will be taken immediately against @amazonca,” Limbavali added.
The issue first came to light when the Kannada Rakshna Vedike’s (KRV) Praveen Shetty camp protested and gave a call to boycott Amazon, besides contemplating formally lodging a complaint with the state police. Shetty, who led the protest, told reporters that the Kannada state flag is the symbol of pride for seven crore Kannadigas and that Amazon has made a huge mistake by hurting the sentiments of millions across the world with its insensitive act.
YouTuber MYNameis Madhu also lashed out at the e-commerce giant, saying that this is the work of Amazon's country-specific sites. "Amazon Canada has shocked the Kannadigas across the globe with their audacity of promoting sale of personalised Kannada flag coloured bikini. This has not just happened in Canada alone, they are selling the same product in the United Kingdom, Japan and Mexico too," he said.
ಕನ್ನಡದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಗೂಗಲ್ನಲ್ಲಿ ಕಾಣಿಸಿಕೊಂಡ ಸೆಂಟೆನ್ಸ್ ಉದ್ದೇಶಪೂರ್ವಕವಲ್ಲ ಎಂದಿಟ್ಟುಕೊಳ್ಳೋಣ. ಈಗ ಕನ್ನಡ ಧ್ವಜ ಲಾಂಛನದ ಬಿಕಿನಿಯನ್ನು ಅಮೇಜಾನ್ ಮಾರಟಕ್ಕೆ ಇಟ್ಟಿರುವುದ್ಯಾಕೇ? ಬ್ಯುಸಿನೆಸ್ ಮಾಡೋದಕ್ಕಾ! ಹೀಗೆ ಕನ್ನಡಕ್ಕೆ ಯಾರೋ ಅವಮಾನ ಮಾಡಿದಾಗ ಏನು ಮಾತಾಡದೆ ಕನ್ನಡಿಗರು ಸುಮ್ಮನೇ ಕೂರುತ್ತೇವಲ್ಲ, ಅದುವೇ ಇದಕ್ಕೆ ಕಾರಣ.#Kannada pic.twitter.com/jSgOKYcEc0
— Ganesh Nachikethu (ಗಣೇಶ್ ನಚಿಕೇತು) (@GNachikethu) June 5, 2021
We experienced an insult of Kannada by @Google recently. Even before the scars could heal, we find @amazonca using the colours of #Kannada flag and the kannada icon on ladies’ clothes 1/2
— Aravind Limbavali (@ArvindLBJP) June 5, 2021
The YouTuber added that the same e-commerce giant had stoked controversy in January 2017 by offering a doormat with the Indian flag for sale. "Then our leader Sushma Swaraj, who was the external affairs minister at that time, had dealt with this giant with an iron hand," he said. The late former Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had sent out a strongly worded message to Amazon India representatives asking them to tender an apology for disrespecting the national symbol which hurt the sentiments of an entire country besides ordering Amazon to remove all the products insulting the national flag. Swaraj had taken strong objection to Amazon Canada selling several products like underwear and panties with the Indian flag, Indian flag shoes and flip flops, etc.
The row against Amazon comes days after Google came under severe criticism after a search for ‘the ugliest language’ in the world produced a result with Kannada as the answer. After a backlash, Google tendered an unconditional apology.
With IANS inputs