08:02 Sushma tells Amazon to ‘apologise or no visa’ after flag doormats:
Union minister Sushma Swaraj has demanded an unconditional apology from online retailer Amazon, which has been selling Indian flag themed doormats. The external affairs minister has demanded that the company withdraw the product immediately. Unless this is done, Amazon officials will not be given visas, she said in a series of tweets.
Disrespect to the national flag is a punishable offense in India. It involves a three-year jail term and a fine or both.
The minister’s tweets read:
“Amazon must tender unconditional apology. They must withdraw all products insulting our national flag immediately.
“If this is not done forthwith, we will not grant Indian Visa to any Amazon official. We will also rescind the Visas issued earlier.”
The minister also asked the Indian embassy to take up the matter with Amazon Canada.
Swaraj’s response came after a Tweeter user tagged her, pointing out the sale of the flag floormats on Amazon.
00:44 People now run away hearing ‘mitron’: Uddhav takes a dig at PM: Amid uncertainty over forging an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party for high-stake Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation polls, which were announced on Wednesday, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray has said he has not received any proposal on seat-sharing so far even as he took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Sena chief said though he expects the seat-sharing talks to begin on Wednesday he is also prepared to face any ‘eventuality’.
“Earlier, I used to start my address saying bhaiyon aur behno (brothers and sisters) or mitron (friends), but now I don’t use these terms as people have started running away when they hear this. Nowadays, the chai wala is the only one heard speaking,” he said without taking Modi’s name while addressing a gathering in Mumbai.
“Had I been negative about an alliance (with the BJP), I would not have sent party leaders to hold initial parleys. I have a formula on seat sharing but I have received no response as yet,” he said.
Uddhav said the decision to partner with BJP for zilla parishad polls will be taken by local leaders.
Source: Rediff