We at Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS) have received several complaints from devout Hindus regarding Shri Ganesh’s image used for marketing and selling various papad products by ‘Ganesh Papad’ through their website http://www.ganeshpapad.in/Papads.html.
Upon reviewing the complaints, the HJS team wrote an appeal letter addressed to Ganesh Papad’s Management team requesting to remove the image of the revered Deity Shri Ganesh which they have printed on the ‘Ganesh Papad’ packets. The appeal letter also explained that once the product is used, the empty papad packet will be thrown in a dustbin and will end up in a municipal trash ground, thus, resulting in denigration of the revered Deity, Shri Ganesh.
Please see below a sample of a Ganesh Papad’s papad wrapper with the image of the revered Hindu Deity Shri Ganesh used as a logo. (The appeal letter explaining the denigration is published towards the end of this page.)
The Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS) protest team has not received a response from Ganesh Papad’s management team. Consequently, HJS now requests all readers to appeal against this denigration of the revered Deity, Shri Ganesh, peacefully and lawfully by either emailing them or calling the numbers given below and requesting them to remove the image of Shri Ganesh from the packaging of various papad products:
Please read below the appeal letter sent by Hindu Janajagruti Samiti to Ganesh Papad.
From: Hindu Jagruti [email protected]
Subject: Denigration of Shri Ganesh through images printed on disposable product covers
Date: Wed 22 April, 2015
To: [email protected]
Namaskar,
Subject: Denigration of Shri Ganesh through images printed on disposable product covers
Hindu Janajagruti Samiti is a registered NGO in India doing social, Hindu Dharma related and national welfare work. The Samiti is also active throughout the world, educating people about Hindu Dharma in a scientific way, campaigning against malpractices done as Hindu Dharma related practices and solving problems related to the misrepresentation of Hindu Dharma. For further details please refer to our website
www.HinduJagruti.org.
We at Hindu Janajagruti Samiti have received several complaints from devout Hindus regarding the use of Shriganesh’s image for marketing and selling your various papad products on your ‘Ganesh Papad’ website http://www.ganeshpapad.in/Home.html.
We are sending this protest letter to notify you regarding Shriganesh’s image printed on the ‘Ganesh Papad’ packets. Once the product is used, the empty papad packet will be thrown away in a dustbin and from there will eventually end up in a municipal trash ground. People may walk on it, the image will get crumpled, thrown out along with other household trash, thus, resulting in denigration of Shriganesh.
The sanctity of the Shriganesh’s images can be maintained only in the puja room, on an altar or such sattvik places. Hindus worship Shriganesh first before commencing any ritual or an auspicious act. He is called the ‘Remover of obstacles’, ‘Remover of unhappiness’ (Vighnaharta, Dukhhaharta), etc. If His image ends up in a dustbin or as trash on the street, it leads to the insult and denigration of Shriganesh, as the form of the Deity coexists with the Deity’s energy. It also hurts the religious sentiments of Hindus.
It could be that you might not be aware of the denigration of Shriganesh; however, hurting religious feelings leads to an offense as per the Indian Penal Code section 295A. Further please note that using religious symbols including pictures of Deities on products for sale is also an offense as per the Indian Trade Practice Act 1999.
We at Hindu Janajagruti Samiti have campaigned to educate people about such denigration that occurs through various products, and after learning about the denigration, many companies have removed the Deities’ pictures from their products. Please refer to our website https://www.hindujagruti.org/hjs-activities/stop-adharma-practices to see our ongoing and successful awareness campaigns against denigration of Hindu Dharma.
We urge you to consider the above points and remove Shriganesh’s image from the ‘Ganesh Papad’ products to prevent further denigration of the highly revered Shriganesh. We stress that our aim in bringing up these points is to educate and ensure that Shriganesh and Hinduism get accurately represented to society. Hinduism has been misrepresented at many levels. You can take one step towards ensuring that Shriganesh and Hinduism do not get disrespected, by removing the image of Shriganesh from your papad packets.
Sincerely,
Hindu Janajagruti Samiti
