Hyundai India, facing
backlash over a social media post by a Pakistani distributor on Kashmir, put
out a second official statement on the controversy Tuesday.  In the statement, the India unit of the South
Korean automobile major, stated that it regretted “any offense caused to the
people of India by this unofficial social media activity.”

The row began when
a distributor based in Pakistan tweeted from HyundaiPakistanOfficial Twitter
handle expressing solidarity with “Kashmiri brothers” in their “struggle for
freedom.” The social media post, which has since been deleted, was posted on
February 5, the day Pakistan observes as Kashmir Solidarity Day.

Many Indian
Twitter users were enraged at the company for putting out a tweet which they
felt supported Pakistan’s narrative on the Kashmir issue and encouraged
separatist tendencies. Indians on Twitter called for a boycott of Hyundai, the
second-largest carmaker in the country after Maruti.

Also Read | ‘Get out of India’: KFC, Hyundai, Pizza Hut face anger over Kashmir post

On Tuesday,
Hyundai Motor India put out a statement saying, “As a business policy, Hyundai
Motor Company does not comment on political or religious issues in any specific
region. Therefore, it is clearly against Hyundai Motor’s policy that the
independently-owned distributor in Pakistan made unauthorized Kashmir-related
social media posts from their own accounts.”

“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 the Hyundai brand identity, has removed the
social media posts and we have put in place processes to prevent a future
recurrence.”

“Our subsidiary,
Hyundai Motor India, is not associated with the distributor in Pakistan, and we
strongly reject the distributor’s unauthorized non-business related social
media activity.”

“Hyundai Motor
Company has been investing in India for many decades and remains strongly
committed to Indian customers. We deeply regret any offense caused to the
people of India by this unofficial social media activity,” the statement read.

Also Read | What’s the Hyundai-Kashmir controversy all about? 

Tuesday’s
statement is the second time Hyundai India has spoken out on the controversy.
On Sunday, a day after the controversial tweet was posted, Hyundai India
stated, “Hyundai Motor India has been committed to the Indian market for more
than 25 years now and we stand firmly for our strong ethos of respecting
nationalism.”

“The unsolicited
social media post linking Hyundai Motor India is offending our unparalleled
commitment and service to this great country. India is second home to the
Hyundai brand and we have zero tolerance policy towards insensitive
communication and we strongly condemn any such view.”

“As part of our
commitment to India, we will continue our efforts towards the betterment of the
country as well as its citizens,” read the statement.

This, however,
failed to calm tempers as several people felt that the response was inadequate.
Priyanka Chaturvedi, an MP from the Shiv Sena, tweeted, “Hi Hyundai. So many
wishy-washy words not needed. All you need to say is – we are unequivocally sorry.”

While Hyundai was
the first company to be targeted with regard to posts on Kashmir Solidarity
Day, on Monday, Indian social media users expressed their outrage at several
big brands, including KFC and Pizza Hut.