Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday said that the government has asked automobile company Hyundai to be more “forceful” in issuing an “unequivocal apology” for a tweet by by its distributor in Pakistan supporting the “liberation” of Kashmir.
Goyal made the remarks after the matter was raised by Shiv Sena leader Priyanka Chaturvedi in the Rajya Sabha.
“This issue has been taken up both with the government there and the company concerned,” Goyal said. “They [Hyundai] have already issued a clarification yesterday. We have also asked them to be more forceful in their unequivocal apology on this issue.”
Meanwhile, the Indian units of fast-food chains Kentucky Fried Chicken, or KFC, and Pizza Hut also apologised after they were criticised for social media posts by entities associated with them on “Kashmir Solidarity Day”, which is observed across the border on February 5.
On February 6, a handle @hyundaiPakistanOfficial, had posted a tweet in support of Kashmir’s “struggle for freedom”. This prompted the hastag #BoycottHyundai to trend on Twitter in India, with many social media users urging Indians to stop buying the company’s products and instead support homegrown brands like Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra.
Meanwhile, the Union Ministry of External Affairs said that it had summoned India’s Ambassador in South Korea on Monday to express New Delhi’s displeasure on the matter.
“It was highlighted that this matter concerned India’s territorial integrity on which there could be no compromise,” said Arindam Bagchi, the ministry’s spokesperson said. “We expected the company to take appropriate action to properly address these issues.”
Bagchi also said that Korea’s Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong had spoken to his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar on Tuesday. Chung expressed regrets on the matter, according to Bagchi.
Hours before Goyal’s statement, the South Korean firm’s Indian unit in a statement said it “deeply regret[s]” the offence caused due to an “unauthorised” tweet from the account of Hyundai’s Pakistan distributor on Kashmir.
“As a business policy, Hyundai Motor Company does not comment on political or religious issues in any specific region,” the automobile company said in a statement.
It added, “Once the situation was brought to our attention, we made the distributor acutely aware of the inappropriateness of the action. We have since taken measures to ensure the distributor, which misused Hyundai brand identity, has removed the social media posts.”
On February 7, Hyundai Motor India in another statement had said that it has a “zero-tolerance policy towards insensitive communication”. Stating that India is a second home to the Hyundai brand, the company said it condemns such views.
KFC, Pizza Hut face heat
A verified KFC Facebook account had posted on social media: “Kashmir belongs to Kashmiris”, reported NDTV. The verified Instagram account “Pizzahutpak”, too, had posted: “We stand with you. Kashmir Solidarity Day.” After calls to boycott Pizza Hut and KFC began trending on Twitter, both posts were deleted.
Reports said that some posts supporting separatists in Kashmir were from 2021.
“We deeply apologise for a post that was published on some KFC social media channels outside the country,” read a message posted on the KFC India Twitter account. “We honour and respect India, and remain steadfast in our commitment to serving all Indians with pride.”
Pizza Hut said that it does not support or agree with the contents of a post circulating on social media, according to PTI. “We remain steadfast in our commitment to serve all our brothers and sisters with pride,” it added.
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