Diwali is not Jashn-e-Riwaaz: Right-wing leaders slam Fabindia advt

Last year in October, it was the Tanishq advertisement that got the goat of right-wing leaders, it is the turn of Fabindia to face their righteous ire this Diwali season.

BJP leader Tejasvi Surya on Monday (October 18) lashed out at clothing brand Fabindia’s ad campaign, which refers to Diwali as ‘Jashn-e-Riwaaz’. Calling this ad as “deliberate misadventures” in a tweet, Surya said this deliberate attempt of “abrahminsation of Hindu festivals”, showing models in non-Hindu traditional attires should be called out.

Further, pointing out that Deepavali is not jashn-e-riwaaz, he warned that Fabindia “must face economic costs for such deliberate misadventures”.

“Deepavali is not Jashn-e-Riwaaz. This deliberate attempt of abrahamisation of Hindu festivals, depicting models without traditional Hindu attires, must be called out,” wrote Surya, the MP from Bengaluru in a tweet. Surya, an advocate by profession, is also the national president of BJP Yuva Morcha.

Also read: Woman with interfaith marriage backing Tanishq ad files FIR for online abuse

In a tweet on October 9, Fabindia had shown some male and female models in sarees and kurta pyjamas. “As we welcome the festival of love and light, Jashn-e-Riwaaz by Fabindia is a collection that beautifully pays homage to Indian culture,” said the accompanying tweet, said a News18 report. Fabindia has now taken down its original tweet, added the report.

Meanwhile, even as some users urged him not to “overdo Hinduism” explaining that the brand was just promoting a collection of dresses under the name Jashn-e-riwaaz, the chairman of Manipal Global Education Mohandas Pai too dived into the discussion. He also shared his illuminating views on the matter.

Pai attacked the brand for deploying “alien terms” for a Hindu festival and accused it of a deliberate attempt to take away the country’s heritage and subvert it! “You can use any brand name you want post-Diwali but at this time, linking it to Diwali shows a perverted mindset!” he wrote in the tweet. Pai had replied to Surya’s tweet and added that Fabindia is doing this deliberately and consumers must protest this misuse as they did for others.

Another user, however, mocked Surya for being a lawyer and not understanding that Fabindia had just named its new line of clothes as Jashn-e-riwaaz. “And, you are a lawyer. The future of India is in very good hands”, he said along with a sarcastic emoji. While another user asked if we were such a “thin-skinned” civilisation to react to a mere name of a private company’s design collection.

Last year, Kerala MP Shashi Tharoor had jumped in to defend the Tanishq ad saying that Hindutva bigots had called for a boycott of Tanishq jewellery for highlighting Hindu-Muslim unity through a beautiful ad. “If Hindu-Muslim “ekatvam” irks them so much, why don’t they boycott the longest surviving symbol of Hindu-Muslim unity in the world – India?”, he had asked.