UK, SEPTEMBER 9, 29905: A British Hindu charity, Hindu Human Rights, won its campaign to stop the sale by a French company of shoes with an image of Lord Ram printed on them (pictured), only to trigger an almighty debate about how to destroy them, reads this report from the UK. Minelli sent the remaining 500 women’s shoes to Hindu Human Rights recently to be destroyed, with a letter apologizing for any offence caused by it selling the shoes in France since May. It took a month-long letter campaign and a hundred strong demonstration outside France’s embassy in London on June 12 by HHR for Minelli to contact the group and halt sales. But Arjun Malik, a spokesman for the campaign group, said it has been inundated with letters, e-mails and telephone calls, from among others Hindu temples, with warnings about how to destroy the shoes respectfully. Mr. Malik said: “We have opened a can of worms. People’s emotions have been heightened. “We were thinking of incinerating the shoes, but some people have said that it is wrong to burn the image of Lord Ram. “We thought of cutting the image out of the shoes and then burning the shoes. Again, some people say that would be defacing the image. “Some suggested drowning the shoes, but, obviously, it is illegal to do that in a river. “We can’t just throw the shoes in the bin, either. “We need to think of some kind of puja [religious ceremony] before we destroy them. The last thing we want is to be accused of sacrilegious behavior.”
Hindus with suggestions on how to properly dispose of the shoes can contact HPI at ar@hindu.org and we will pass them on to Hindu Human Rights.