E-commerce major Amazon on Thursday removed flip-flops with Mahatma Gandhi’s picture from its US website following a request from the Union Ministry of External Affairs on January 14 to “respect Indian sensitivities and sentiments”. MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup told reporters that the product is no longer available on the Amazon website.

The move follows Amazon Canada’s removal of doormats bearing India’s tricolour on January 12. The doormats were taken down after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj took note of it and threatened to cancel visas of their employees and demanded an unconditional apology.

MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said the ministry had communicated its displeasure over the sale of the products to the company’s representative’s in Delhi and Washington. “I am happy to report that the offending item has since been removed by Amazon and we hope that our engagement will continue to be fruitful,” Swarup said.

Twitter users had drawn Swaraj’s attention to the sale of the product bearing Gandhi’s image, while some had even tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi in their tweets. “After the tweets of Minister Sushma Swaraj, our envoy in Washington told Amazon that while providing a platform to third party vendors, they should respect sentiments of Indians,” Swarup had said. The flip-flops were priced at $16.99 (Rs 1,200 approximately).