Racism allegations at Ikea Hyderabad store; Minister KTR says 'appalling'

Senior journalist Nitin Sethi tweeted that his wife, hailing from Manipur was frisked at Ikea while others before were not

The Ikea showroom here has landed in an alleged racial controversy after senior journalist Nitin Sethi tweeted that his wife, hailing from Manipur was frisked while others before were not, with senior Telangana Minister KT Rama Rao on Monday describing the incident as "appalling."

Sethi further alleged that the person who checked his wife's shopping bags, even sniggered at the fact that she had bought everything and didn't even care to reply why she was singled out.

"Racist treatment at @IKEAIndia store in Hyderabad. Only my wife, from Manipur got frisked for goods she bought. No one else before us. And then all supervisory staff came to defend the racism. Great show from an 'international store'. Cheers to another usual day," Sethi tweeted on Sunday.

"And the supervisors said, yeah call police if you want, we will deal. And it didn't end there. Daily racism that our people face," he said in another tweet.

Responding to Sethi's allegation, Ikea India in a tweet said it believes that equality is a human right and condemns all forms of racism.

"Hej, at IKEA, we believe that equality is a human right, and we condemn all forms of racism and prejudice. We regret the inconvenience caused to you while following the mandatory billing protocol," the Swedish furniture maker said.

As a process, customers who self-checkout are requested for a final check before leaving the store to ensure the billing is correct and customers do not face any problems regarding double charging, repeat scanning of products etc, Ikea further said in another tweet.

"This is appalling and absolutely unacceptable @IKEAIndia. Please ensure a proper apology is issued & more importantly educate, sensitise & train your staff to respect all your customers graciously. Hope you will make amends asap," Rama Rao tweeted.