More often than not even large corporations bow down to calls of boycott from right wing trolls in a bid to avoid any damage to their image. In such image-protecting exercises, many bold advertisements or action by corporates are withdrawn and the companies are forced to oblige and apologise to such unwarranted claims of “offensive content”.

While most companies bow down in fear of getting actually “boycotted” by their large “Hindu” consumer base, there are a few companies in recent times that have stood their ground and defied such calls for boycott. These include Bharat Matrimony, Swiggy and CEAT Tyres, at least from the past few years.

A recent ad by Bharat Matrimony showed a woman with holi-colours on her and after she washes them off bruises on her face become visible. The intention of the ad was to create awareness on consent during Holi and it cited statistics from a study by the Times of India that said, ”1/3^rd of women who have faced trauma during Holi, have stopped playing Holi”.

“Harassment during Holi leads to intense trauma”. The ad further says, “This women’s day, let’s choose to celebrate Holi in a way that is safe and inclusive for women”. While there is a message of support for women in this ad, the “woke hindutva gang” on Twitter saw “Hinduphobia” and a means to insult Hinduism in the ad. There were calls for boycott of the ad and the hashtag was trending on Twitter too. While the company changed the description of the ad in the Tweet, the message that was in the ad remained. On Bharat matrimony’s Twitter account, this is still the first tweet and they have refused to bow down to these troll elements by standing their ground instead of removing the ad and issuing an apology for “hurting religious sentiments”.

This Women’s Day & Holi, let’s celebrate by creating safer and more inclusive spaces for women. It’s important to acknowledge the challenges that women face in public spaces and create a society that truly respects their well-being – today & forever.#BharatMatrimony #BeChoosy pic.twitter.com/9bqIXZqaXu

— Bharatmatrimony.com (@bharatmatrimony) March 8, 2023

In another incident, a delivery boy working with Swiggy, the food delivery company, refused to deliver a meat dish as the location was inside the premises of a Hanuman temple.  This incident happened in Delhi and the location for delivery was Marghat Hanuman Mandir at Kashmere Gate. The order was reportedly placed by a shopkeeper selling offerings to the temple. The delivery boy, Sachin Panchal refused to enter the temple premises to complete the delivery. While he claims he was terminated for this, Swiggy claimed that his employee ID was still active. However, it is known that Swiggy reprimanded the employee for not doing his job.

In October 2021, Dabur had landed itself in a similar soup after it put out an ad featuring a lesbian couple celebrating the Karwa Chauth after they were criticised by Madhya Pradesh home minister Narottam Mishra who called it “objectionable content”. However, Sabrang India had pointed out that the ad was problematic for racist overtones and for using a lesbian love storyline to sell a bleaching product on a festival considered by many as patriarchal. Dabur had issued an apology and pulled the ad.

In the same month, CEAT tyres pulled an ad featuring Aamir Khan in which he advised people not to burst firecrackers on the road. But the ad was seen by right wing trolls as a Muslim man advising people against celebrating a Hindu festival, giving the entire message a communal colour. It was a part of a road safety campaign of the company. However, CEAT did not withdraw the ad and it is still available on its official YouTube.

Again, in the same month, during Diwali, Fab India, a well known apparel brand came up with its Diwali collection and called it Jashn-e-Riwaaz. This did go down well with the right wing and it was loudly protested against for using an Urdu term for a Hindu festival. The ad was withdrawn by the cowered down Fab India.

A year before that, in October 2020, Tanishq had come up with an ad celebrating an interfaith family. In the ad, a Hindu woman married into a Muslim family was shown where the Muslim family celebrates her ‘godhbharai’ as she is pregnant, despite it being a Hindu tradition. This was done to promote their collection “Ekatvam” (oneness) and the ad did justice to the name of the collection. However, when the brand was attacked for promoting “Love Jihad” and showing “fake secularism”, the company pulled down the ad. Another example of a big conglomerate like Tata Group also could not stand up to these small time right wing trolls.

Even a big time designer like Sabyasachi, who is the dream designer for celebrity weddings had to pull out his ad showing a bikini clad woman wearing a Mangalsutra! Madhya Pradesh home minister Narottam Mishra who had ‘warned’ Sabyasachi with legal action if he did not take down the advertisement within 24 hours. So, Sabyasachi posted an Instagram note stating the advertisement was meant to make “heritage and culture a dynamic conversation,” and that it was “aimed to talk about inclusivity and empowerment. The campaign was intended as a celebration and we are deeply saddened that it has instead offended a section of our society. So we at Sabyasachi have decided to withdraw the campaign”.

Related:

Sabyasachi divorces bikini-clad mangalsutra advt after legal action threatened

Dabur uses LGBTQI storyline to sell skin bleach, gets trolled for ‘insulting’ Karva Chauth

Aamir Khan: Surviving in the regime’s crosshairs

BJP MP says Aamir Khan’s CEAT Tyres Diwali ad hurts Hindu sentiments

The post A pat on the back for brands that refuse to bow to right wing trolls appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Naveen K Razak dances like a dream and will soon be a medical doctor who one hopes will put a smile on the faces of those he heals. His Instagram bio reads, “Take more chances. Dance more dances.” His collegemate Janaki Omkumar dances even better than him, and together they have lakhs of followers on social media, and millions of viewers of the coolest dance video that has gone viral. Razak and Omkumar are breaking the internet with their electrifying performance to Boney M’s ‘Rasputin’ that can still make for the best dance tracks as it first did in the late 1970s when it was released. The two danced in perfect teamwork, after classes, still in their scrubs. Bare faced and without a worry in the world they were a perfect dose of happiness in the middle of a work day on March 23. 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Naveen K Razak (@naveen_k_razak)

However, the happy dance by a Muslim Naveen K Razak and Hindu Janaki Omkumar, both MBBS students of the Thrissur Medical College gave heartburn to a Kerala High Court attorney Krishna Raj, who according to Boomlive is also a ‘Hindutva sympathiser’. The man posted on Facebook, “Janaki M Omkumar and Naveen K Razak are the two students. I smell something wrong here. Janaki’s parents should be careful. And if they are careful, they won’t have to be sorry later, as Nimisha’s mother has proven. Let’s pray for Janaki’s father Omkumar and his wife.” 

Raj was referring to the 2018,  case of Nimisha, a dentistry student from Thiruvananthapuram, who converted to Islam, changed her name to Fathima and married a man named Esa. According to boomlive Esa had converted to Islam from Christianity. It was reported that Nimisha had left for Afghanistan to join the Islamic State, where they were arrested and themselves sought to return home to India. According to news reports Nimisha/Fathima’s mother Bindu Sampath filed a writ petition in Kerala High Court asking the Central government to help “rescue” her daughter and grandchild from ISIS. Raj used that example to allude that Janaki was at a similar risk because she was friends and dancing with Naveen. 

Krishna Raj’s communal post got a lot of attention too. However while there were a few who agreed to the communal allegations there were thousands more who did not. Thousands stood up and spoke for the two medical students and by Friday evening another dance video this time by their college mates went viral. It was captioned: “If your plan is to hate, then we have decided to resist”. And soon enough hashtags #resisthate ##danceIsNotjihad took off.

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor too took to giving  “applause and encouragement” and said this was the best of “Young India” that resists “Hindutva venom being spewed at them”.

It gets even better! Now half a dozen other medical students at the same college have come out to dance in their support! #Respect #Applause #danceIsNotjihad pic.twitter.com/DApteTf4WH

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) April 10, 2021

Razak and Omkumar showed that they were too cool to be rattled and told the local media that they will ignore trolls. “We are new generation,” they said. According to news reports the Kerala wing of IMA-Medical Students’ Network also put out a solidarity post on Facebook, to stand in support of Omkumar and Razak. “Medical college campuses are a place where all the religious, caste, gender differences created by man become completely irrelevant. It reminds us that we are behaving, interacting, thinking and speaking human beings. Solidarity with both and those who are to come,” their statement read. “We are good friends. We are not affected by the comments. Even our families feel that these do not even deserve a response,” Janaki told Asianet News. “They are free to paint whatever colour they want for this. It is not going to affect us in any way,” added Naveen. 

The two future doctors were seen dancing together in yet another video posted on Facebook by Kerala-based Club FM radio channel. This time it was an probably instantly choreographed number in step with a remixed Malayalam film song. They were as enthusiastic as ever. By saturday morning, Naveen had dropped another gem on instagram: “Calm like a Pigeon when we rest… Soar like a Hawk when we thrust”

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Naveen K Razak (@naveen_k_razak)

Related:

Gujarat Assembly passes Freedom of Religion Amendment Bill, 2021
MP govt notifies Freedom of Religion Act, 2021
Bill against ‘love jihad’ to be tabled in Gujarat Assembly
Love Jihad bogey derailed in Mangaluru

The post Medicos Naveen K Razak, Janaki Omkumar give some dance therapy to communal trolls appeared first on SabrangIndia.