Punjab CM Amarinder condemns use of Golden Temple pic with 'toilet seat'

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh Wednesday strongly condemned toilet seats with the image of the Golden Temple being reportedly sold by a company on an online retail website.

He was apparently referring to a claim by a Sikh body in the US that doormats, rugs and toilet seat covers with the image of the Golden Temple were being reportedly sold by some sellers on Amazon.

The Sikh Coalition said in a statement Tuesday that it was alerted to products such as doormats, rugs and toilet seat covers with the image of one the most historically significant Sikh sites, the Golden Temple, were being sold by some sellers on Amazon.

The chief minister said it has hurt the religious sentiments of the entire Sikh community.

"Strongly condemn use of pictures of Sri Darbar Sahib with toilet seat by Philiphome Universal. It has hurt the religious sentiments of Sikh community worldwide. Demand immediate withdrawal of the seat by the company and an apology," Amarinder Singh said in a tweet.

The chief minister also sought an apology by the company which used the image of the Golden Temple in a wrong way.

The Sikh Coalition, a civil and legal rights organisation, said in the hours since, through community outreach, several pages have been removed from the website.

The products seem to have been removed from Amazon's website as a message that "Sorry, we couldn't find that page" appears when running a search for the items, it said.

"It has come to our attention that several sellers are posting products onto your platform that culturally appropriate the imagery of the Golden Temple and spiritual imagery of other eastern cultures," the Sikh Coalition's senior manager of advocacy and policy Sim Singh said in a letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Senior Vice President and General Counsel David Zapolsky.