Dear Tanishq,
Your Ekatvam campaign sounds so good and beautiful. We understand that your recent advertisement that you had removed after facing heavy backlash on social media, was intended to promote “social and communal harmony”, as you have commented. You have mentioned that the Ekatvam Campaign wishes to bring people from all walks of life, local communities and families together, and “celebrate the beauty of oneness” and you have also added that the “inadvertent stirring of emotions” has upset you. Just like several other people, I too was disturbed for a variety of reasons upon seeing your advertisement and through this article, I would to like voice out the causes for my agony and I leave it to the readers to decide if I sound like an “intolerant fascist”. If I do, I would wear it on my sleeves. Proudly.
Firstly, the concept of showing the benevolence and love of the minority community towards the Hindus is not a new idea that you have enlightened us with and there is nothing very creative about this concept. People of this country have seen the same “oneness campaigns over and over again through several movies and advertisements, where the idea of brotherhood is cherished by the minorities and they shower their overflowing affection for the Hindus, thereby upholding the ‘Ekatvam’ of this land. In 2018, an old RedLabel advertisement resurfaced on the Internet, showing a Hindu man getting disappointed upon seeing a Ganesh idol maker donning a skull cap, whereas the Idol maker wins over his heart by explaining to him how even idol making is a form of worship, irrespective of the religion. The resurfacing of the video was met with heavy cries from the Social media had just like your case, and immediately the Hindus were termed “fascists”. Interestingly, even the Red label was nothing creative about its Hindu-Muslim bhai bhai ad because, in an earlier ad also by them, a Hindu man who was hesitant to enter a Muslim woman’s home, changes his mind after the aromatic tea prepared by the Muslim woman clad in burqa captures his senses through the open “welcoming doors”. Similarly brands like Surf Excel have shown their rejoicing of harmony by portraying the Hindus in the ridiculous position.
Hence, dear Tanishq brand, we genuinely would like to know why is it that brands are unwilling to create “brotherhood-cherishing ads” that can “also show” Hindus as the welcoming community? Is there a limitation in your terms and conditions that you can’t promote such content? If so, please do mention that before hand, so that consumers need not have to get shocked after your advertisements are released and then create a big fuss about it, and would rather be content with your openness.
To make it straightforward, this one-sided portrayal of communal harmony has disgusted the audience and we hope brands revive themselves with better creativity to promote Ekatvam, rather than getting stuck like an old gramaphone playing the same vinyl again and again. Any way people know what to expect from your “social unity” ads and hence the very purpose of conducting such campaigns go defeated. If expecting “equality in treatment of religions” from brands makes me look fascist, so be it and I am unapologetic about it.
Why are we particularly “shocked” with your advertisements if after all we could just brush it aside as another “social harmony promoting” ad? This is where we expect you to stay in constant touch with the current happenings in the country, and rely upon various regional, and national news sources, rather than stopping with NDTV or The Wire.
The brutal beheading of a Hindu woman by her husband for refusing to convert to Islam shook several sections of people and to your kind attention, this happened only a few days back. While you are now busy trying to contemplate why the Hindus are reacting too harshly, let me bring to your notice that a Hindu woman named Anjana Tiwari set herself to fire in another case of Love Jihad after constant harassment by her in-laws. Just in the last 2 months, 20 cases of Love Jihad have been reported in Uttar Pradesh alone. Moreover, the growing menace of Love Jihad in Kerala also needs attention. Last year in September, Vice Chairman for the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) wrote a letter to Home Minister Amit Shah, asking for a probe into love jihad or forced conversion by Islamic radicals. He demanded for the involvement of the NIA and wrote “The spate of organised religious conversions and using the victims for terror activities by trapping them through ‘love jihad’ has shown the Christian community is a soft target for Islamic radicals”. In Shahan Sha A vs State Of Kerala, the High Court itself said that there was a “concerted effort” to convert girls of other religions to Islam and marry them off to Muslim men and the court noted that there had been 3,000-4,000 such conversions in the past four years. An India Today report elaborates the Role of PFI in mass conversions and Islamic terror as findings of the NIA investigations. Your idea of one-sided harmony ad makes no sense with the increasing rise and menace of Love Jihad in the country.
While your beautiful short ad adds so much positivity, my aggrieved mind refuses to come out of the trauma of the death of an 18 year old Rahul who was beaten to death by his Muslim girlfriend’s brother over alleged family disapproval of an inter-faith marriage and dear Tanishq this happened very recently, this October. Just like how communism keeps barking about a more equal society but has failed to prove its working model, your advertisement is devoid of reality.
Dear Tanishq, we understand your excitement in showing how the Muslim in-laws of a Hindu woman are so benevolent. But this goes against their very faith. Sorry to sound like Zakir Naik but there is a verse in Quran that deals with inter-faith marriage.
Verse 2:221
“Do not marry idolatresses (al mushrikāt) till they believe; and certainly a believing maid is better than an idolatress even though she would please you; and do not marry idolaters (al Mushrikīn) till they believe (hata yūminū), and certainly a believing slave is better than an idolater, even though he would please you. These invite to the Fire, and Allah invites to the Garden and to forgiveness by His grace, and makes clear His revelations to mankind so that they may remember.”
On top of this, to add fuel to the fire, NDTV excitedly posts a fake headline of a Tanishq showroom in Gujarat supposedly getting attacked by ‘Hindu goons’ and immediately pulls down the information. If media channels like NDTV which are so adept at conveying cow lynching cases to prove its theory of Hindutva terror, is willing to report the several thousand cases of Love Jihad happening across the country, then you can go ahead making such beautiful “social harmony promoting” ads. Recently with Hathras rape, there was heavy criticism by media and opposition parties of the Yogi Adithyanath government. At this juncture can you make an ad showing how women safety is so strong in Uttar Pradesh?
There is a growing sense of fear and panic increasing among the Hindus with respect to the growing Jihad cases and if you can take time to keep in touch with the ground reality and the cases being reported, it would be wiser. Hindus, are tired of being portrayed as the receivers of love showered by other communities, at time being mocked, ridiculed and vilified just because you want to sell your products and we expect famous brands like you to at least be more equal in their campaign towards the portrayal all religions. Trying hard to appease people with uncreative ads is cheap propaganda and with the increasing awareness, responses too become stronger.
The idea of ‘harmony’ sounds good but let that not be a one way road.