As the festival of joy and prosperity Diwali nears, India is witnessing a slew of hate comments over Indian brands. Be it outrage over Fab India’s Jashn-E-Riwaaz campaign to Aamir Khan’s no-cracker Diwali, we have found ourselves divided on religious sentiments.
While it started with Fab India’s Jashn-E-Riwaaz, prompting the brand to pull back the ad after accusations of it defacing Diwali by linking the festival to an Urdu term, now the focus is on CEAT. In a latest development, Karnataka MP Anant Kumar Hegde has written a letter to the tyre company objecting an advertisement starring Aamir Khan, which urges people to not burst crackers on the streets.
Anant Kumar Hegde said that the company’s concern for public issues are to be applauded but along with raising awareness around not bursting crackers, it should also address the issue of blocking roads in the name of namaaz on Fridays and other important days by Muslims. He further added, “Nowadays, a group of anti-Hindu actors always hurt Hindu sentiments whereas they never try to expose the wrongdoings of their community.”
Amid the religious back and forth and fuelling hatred among the people of India, what we are neglecting are countries who are minting money by fooling Indians, as they are engaged in months-long deadlock at the border. Even as Indians find fallacies in CEAT and Fab India, Chinese companies like Xiaomi are running festive offers for Indian consumers, with celebrities like Bobby Deol, Himesh Reshamiya and Mouni Roy being the face of it.
Do we continue bashing Indian companies and let the real enemy mint big money; or do we say no to Chinese products and companies this Diwali, the choice is ours. But, we must remember that India will progress when each and every citizen of this country comes forward to support and promote Made In India brands and contribute towards building an Aatmanirbhar Bharat.
