Amazon bows, drops cases against Raj Thackeray and MNS

By Quaid Najmi

Mumbai, Jan. Jan 5 (SocialNews.XYZ) In what is billed as a climbdown, the global e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. has decided to take back all cases it has filed against Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) President Raj Thackeray, other party leaders and activists, officials said here on Tuesday.

At an ongoing hearing in the cases before the Dindoshi Sessions Court, the Amazon Transportation Service Ltd.'s lawyers submitted an affidavit seeking a withdrawal of its Suit (No. 1119/2020), against the party leaders.

Simultaneously, the company has also agreed to incorporate the Marathi language option for Maharashtrian customers on its app - which was the prime demand of the party, said MNS Spokesperson Sandip Deshpande.

In view of the latest developments, Thackeray - who had been directed to appear before the Dindoshi Court on Jan. 5, was not required to go there, he added.

MNS Youth leader Akhil Chitre said that the Amazon's legal team has held several discussions with them after which they agreed to withdraw the suit and other cases against various leaders.

"This is a very positive step for all concerned. After the company assured that it would do the needful for the cause of Marathi language, we had withdrawn our agitation against Amazon.com one week ago," Deshpande told IANS.

He made it clear that the MNS was not asking to drop other languages but merely sought the inclusion of Marathi for the Marathi-speaking customers' convenience while shopping online.

It may be recalled that since Oct. 2020, the MNS had been agitating for incorporating Marathi on Amazon's apps, and started a campaign - 'No Marathi, No Amazon'.

After several meetings with MNS leaders and even assuring to do the needful, the MNC had hit back by filing several cases against the party and its office-bearers.

In late-December, the Dindoshi Court directed Thackeray to appear in connection with a suit filed against him by the company.

Apparently furious over this, a group of angry MNS activists retaliated by vandalising at least three warehouses of Amazon in Mumbai and Pune on Dec. 25 - at the height of the festival delivery season.

Though MNS leaders declined to disclose details of the understanding they had reached with the e-commerce giant, it is learnt that it would include a written undertaking on providing the Marathi option on its app, and local officials are likely to tender an apology to Thackeray.

With this, the MNS ended one chapter on its three-month long war with Amazon and launched another front - this time propounding the case for Mumbai vis-a-vis Bombay - the latter which is still used by certain organisations or institutions.

(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at: q.najmi@ians.in)

Source: IANS