Madhu Patel
CHICAGO: Hugely upset Indian Americans across USA have strongly pitched to Maui (Hawaii) based brand “Maui Woke” for immediate withdrawal of various shoes/boots carrying images of Hindu deity Lord Ganesha.
It is pointed out to the firm that Lord Ganesha is a highly revered deity in Hinduism that any commercialization a in the form of adorning one’s feet is deemed Inappropriate usage of Hindu deities or concepts or symbols and is not okay as it hurt the devotees.
Rajan Zed, President of Universal Society of Hinduism, also urged Maui Woke to offer a formal apology, besides withdrawing Ganesha shoes/boots from its website and store.
Hinduism is the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about 1.1 billion adherents and that any trivialization of Hindu deity was disturbing to the Hindus world over, he observed.
Maui Woke, whose tagline is “A State of Mind”, claims to bring “exclusive items to inspire joy and balance in your life”. Besides other items, it sells 10 women’s shoes/boots named Ganesha on its website with prices ranging from $44.99 to $69.99, and carrying images of Lord Ganesha. These include varieties of nonslip canvas shoes, high top shoes, lace up canvas boots, ankle high boots, canvas chukka boots.
