Toilet Seat Deities!

More of this Feature • Denigrating Designs • Who Did It & Why? • Should You Protest?

Join the Discussion "Hindu symbols are being insulted like never before. Let's rise up against such designs..." DUSH123

Related Features • Hollywood Hinduism • Conversion Controversy

Various Hindu organisations, including Prime Minister Vajpayee's BJP, has expressed outrage over the depiction of Hindu deities on the toilet seats. The American Hindus Against Defamation (AHAD) was the first to demand an unequivocal apology to the Hindu community.

In an open letter to the company chief, the AHAD Convenor Ajay Shah said: "Associating toilet seats with the icons and deities that are considered sacred and placed in temples and worshipped by a billion people is extremely insulting to say the very least. It is, in our opinion, an outrageously insensitive use of Hindu symbols. Sacred Seats with Christian, Jewish or Islamic symbols would have evoked a much vigorous outcry."

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has immediately condemned the action of company for "decorating toilet seats with images of Hindu deities". The Party vice president Pyarelal Khandelwal said in a statement in New Delhi: "It's a disquieting news… a contemptible thing to be strongly condemned by all," he told the Press Trust of India (PTI). Deliberately denigrating Hindu gods, knowing that they are held sacred by Hindus all over the world, is totally against the resolution passed by the United Nations General Assembly acknowledging the equality of all religions.

The BJP has urged the US Government to keep such religious intolerance under check - the United News of India (UNI) reports - while hoping that Hindus would ''ignore such abominable act with the utter contempt it deserves.'' Some leaders have reportedly begun to find the "link" between the campaigners of anti-Christian propaganda and those now indulging in denigrating Hindu Gods.

VHP, RSS & Shiv Sena
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) senior vice-president Giriraj Kishore has threatened to launch an agitation and sue the American firm, claiming that the company was fully aware of the religious import of Ganesha and Kali to Hindus all over the world. "It has hurt Hindu feelings," Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS) spokesman M G Vaidya told PTI. Shiv Sena leader Bhagwan Goyal has planned to stage demonstrations at the American Embassy in New Delhi in protest against this "attempt to denigrate and humiliate Hindus", and has asked the company to withdraw its 'Sacred Seats' from the market.

AHAD Campaign
AHAD has already started an online campaign against Sittin' Pretty by publishing a demonstration site where the Hindu community can sign a protest book. It's Convenor told the Press, "When people can ridicule your symbols, what stops them from ridiculing you?"

Have Your Say
You can voice your opinion about the toilet seat controversy at the Hinduism Message Board.

Update
Van Dyke's Apologia to the Hindu Community