Amazon faces backlash from Indian ruling party lawmakers on ‘Tandav’ web series

MUMBAI (Reuters) – A local official with India’s ruling Hindu Nationalist Party on Sunday filed a lawsuit against an Amazon Prime web series alleging it was insulting Hindu gods and goddesses, and threatened to launch a protest at the office of the company in Mumbai.

Protests against Amazon.com were staged Monday to warn it not to show scenes insulting Hindu gods and goddesses, Ram Kadam, a BJP member of the Maharashtra legislature, said in a tweet after filing a complaint to the police in Mumbai on Sunday.

The political drama “Tandav” has also drawn the ire of other Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmakers, sparking new controversy for the e-commerce giant which had to remove dozens of rugs and mats depicting Hindu gods from its international Amazon. com platform after a backlash 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 made fun of Hindu gods and disrespected religious sentiments Hindus ”.

He called on the ministry to immediately create an authority to regulate streaming platforms and, in the meantime, called for a ban on the series.

Amazon did not respond to requests for comment.

At the end of last year, India placed the streaming platforms under the supervision of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and announced its intention to regulate their content.

Reuters partner ANI reported on Sunday that the ministry had summoned officials from Amazon Prime Video over 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.