MUMBAI (Reuters) – A local official from India’s ruling Hindu nationalist party on Sunday filed a police complaint against an Amazon Prime series on the web, claiming that it insults Hindu gods and goddesses, and threatened to launch a protest at the company’s Mumbai office. .
Protests against Amazon.com were organized for Monday to warn it not to show scenes of insults to Hindu gods and goddesses, Ram Kadam, a BJP member of the Maharashtra legislative assembly, said in a tweet after filing a complaint with the police in Mumbai on Sunday.
The political drama “Tandav” also drew the ire of other legislators from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), causing further controversy for the e-commerce giant that last year had to remove dozens of carpets and rugs depicting Hindu gods from its international Amazon. with platform after a negative reaction in India.
BJP MP Manoj Kotak, in a letter to India’s Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Prakash Javadekar, dated Saturday, said that the creators of Tandav “deliberately mocked Hindu gods and disrespected Hindu religious feelings.”
He urged the ministry to immediately form an authority to regulate streaming platforms and, meanwhile, called for a ban on the series.
Amazon did not respond to requests for comment.
India at the end of last year placed streaming platforms under the supervision of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and said it plans to regulate its content.
Reuters partner ANI said on Sunday that the ministry had summoned Amazon Prime Video employees in connection with the controversy.
Streaming services have gained traction in India due to the availability of affordable smartphones and cheap mobile data, making the South Asian nation a battleground for Amazon, Netflix and Disney as they seek to expand outside their home markets.
Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav; Additional reports by Sankalp Phartiyal; Editing by Euan Rocha, Kirsten Donovan