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'Hindu' shoes withdrawn after protests

Indians in the United States rallied together to oppose shoe designs offensive to religious sentiments, reports on Tuesday said.

The high-heeled sandals with colourful portrayals of Hindu deities was marketed by a California-based company and manufactured in China.

The sandals, sold at five dollars a pair, were withdrawn from the market soon after Indian-American Hindu leaders protested, according to a New York ethnic paper News India. The sandals with psychedelic designs bore the images of deities like Shiva, Ganesha and Parvati.

In a letter to the association, Patrick Huang, the attorney of the shoe company, Fortune Dynamic Inc, regretted the manufacture of the footwear. He said the manufacture of the sandals had been discontinued and that the company did not intend to disparage the Hindu religion or offend those practising the religion.

The American Hindus Against Defamation, a coalition of major Hindu organisations in North America, had expressed outrage at the introduction of the shoes and demanded an apology for this "inconsiderate" act, according to the Asian Age newspaper. Others termed it "horrendous, incredible and thoroughly offensive".

This is not the first time that shoe designs have offended sensibilities. Three years ago, footwear giant Nike faced a lot of flak for using the symbol Allah on a new range of training shoes. A shop in Leicester, England, selling shoes embroiderd with quotations from the Koran was set on fire.

A little later, the Hindu community objected when the Clarks management came up with two designs of trendy footwear titled Vishnu and Krishna, sold at 30 and 89 pounds each. Huge demonstrations were held and Clarks was forced to apologise.

UNI

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