A popular Indian jewellery brand was forced to pull out an advertisement featuring an inter-faith couple after drawing flak from country’s right-wing for promoting Hindu-Muslim unity.
The commercial showed a baby shower organised for the Hindu bride by her Muslim in-laws. The “Hindutva bigots” termed it a "love jihad" — a term radical Hindu groups use to accuse Muslim men of converting Hindu women by marriage, BBC reported.
Rights groups say religious tolerance is under threat in India. Hindu-Muslim marriages have long attracted censure.
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom in its annual report released earlier this year recommended that the State Department should designate India as a “country of particular concern” or CPC, for “engaging in and tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations, as defined by the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA)”.
A section of conservative social media users led calls to boycott the brand, taking it to the top of Twitter trends. Many joined in to condemn the abusive posts and comments which bolstered the boycott trend.
The description for the advertisement posted to YouTube read: "She is married into a family that loves her like their own child. Only for her, they go out of their way to celebrate an occasion that they usually don't. A beautiful confluence of two different religions, traditions and cultures."
The brand first disabled comments and likes/dislikes on the advert posted to Facebook and YouTube. It later removed the video altogether.
— Tanishq (@TanishqJewelry) October 13, 2020
Kangana Ranaut was among the Bollywood actors who shared her thoughts on the ad, and claimed that it glorified “love jihad and sexism”. Actor Richa Chadha, on the other hand, found the ad ‘beautiful’.
It's a beautiful ad.💗 https://t.co/b90dEiyLyw
— TheRichaChadha (@RichaChadha) October 13, 2020
Divya Dutta, whose voice has been used in the ad, also wrote on Twitter, “Yes it’s my voice. It s sad it’s taken off the air. I loved it.”
Yes it’s my voice. It s sad it’s taken off air. I loved it https://t.co/uWyPzbfHUd
— Divya Dutta (@divyadutta25) October 13, 2020
"Sad lack of spine and conviction," Bhaskar shared, adding, "Numerous women (and men) get death threats on social media on a daily basis they stand up to it. Unfortunate that a large corporate conglomerate is unable to gather the courage (and resources) to withstand a few days of trolling!"
Sad lack of spine.. and conviction. Numerous women (and men) get death threats on social media on a daily basis.. they stand up to it. Unfortunate that a large corporate conglomerate is unable to gather the courage (and resources) to withstand a few days of trolling! 🙄 #tanishq https://t.co/PBDPVlRxZe
— Swara Bhasker (@ReallySwara) October 14, 2020
The advertisement was released on October 9. It immediately led to the hashtag #BoycottTanishq for reportedly glorifying ‘love jihad’. Kangana, who has in the past called herself a ‘bhakt’, also shared the similar sentiment. “The concept wasn’t as much a problem as the execution was, the fearful Hindu girl apologetically expressing her gratitude to her in-laws for the acceptance of her faith, Isn’t she the woman of the house? Why is she at their mercy? Why so meek and timid in her own house? Shameful.”
The concept wasn’t as much a problem as the execution was,the fearful Hindu girl apologetically expressing her gratitude to her in-laws for the acceptance of her faith, Isn’t she the woman of the house? Why is she at their mercy? Why so meek and timid in her own house? Shameful. https://t.co/LDRC8HyHYI
— Kangana Ranaut (@KanganaTeam) October 12, 2020
In another tweet, she wrote, “This advert is wrong on many levels, Hindu bahu is living with the family for a significant amount of time but acceptance happens only when she is carrying their heir. So what is she just a set of ovaries? This advert does not only promote love-jihad but also sexism #tanishq.”
This advert is wrong on many levels, Hindu bahu is living with the family for significant amount of time but acceptance happens only when she is carrying their heir. So what is she just a set of ovaries?This advert does not only promote love-jihad but also sexism #tanishq
— Kangana Ranaut (@KanganaTeam) October 13, 2020
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