Tanishq Pulls Inter-Faith Advertisement After Islamophobic Trolling
The company faced boycott calls and trolling for allegedly supporting “love jihad”, an Islamophobic conspiracy theory.
Tanishq pulled an advertisement showing an inter-faith marriage after the Tata Group brand faced boycott calls and trolling for allegedly supporting “love jihad”, an Islamophobic conspiracy theory.
The idea behind the Ekatvam campaign--Sanskrit for oneness--is to celebrate the coming together of people from different walks of life, local communities and families during these "challenging times and celebrate the beauty of oneness", a Tanishq spokesperson said in a statement. "This film has stimulated divergent and severe reactions, contrary to its very objective."
"We are deeply saddened with the inadvertent stirring of emotions and withdraw this film keeping in mind the hurt sentiments and well being of our employees, partners and store staff."
The advertisement by Titan Company Ltd., India’s largest branded jewellery maker, showed a pregnant Hindu woman, married into a Muslim family, celebrating a Hindu ceremony “Godh Bharai” or Baby Shower with her mother-in-law. That triggered #boycottTanishq calls on social media ahead of the festival and wedding season, considered auspicious and when gold-buying picks up.
Majority of those trolling targeted Tanishq for allegedly supporting “love jihad”, a term used to wrongly accuse Muslims of trying to convert Hindus through marriage. India’s secular constitution gives citizens freedom to practice any religion and the law permits inter-faith marriages. Still, such allegations surface frequently.
The Modi government, in reply to a parliamentary query earlier this year, had clarified that the Indian law doesn’t define “love jihad” and no such case has been reported even though investigating agencies were probing a couple of inter-faith marriages in Kerala.
Hadiya’s Case
One probe into alleged “love jihad” by the National Investigating Agency stems from the marriage and conversion of a Kerala woman to Islam. Parents of the Hindu woman, a medical student who changed her name to Hadiya, alleged that she was lured into marriage and forced to convert to Islam, multiple media reports had said citing court proceedings.
The Kerala High Court even annulled the marriage. The Supreme Court, however, restored her marriage and allowed her to stay with her husband.
The Trolls
The social media commentary ranged from attacking the ad to boycott the brand calls to attempts to identify Titan employees who may have been involved in its creation and targeting their religion.
A surfeit of ugly and vicious comments across social media did not spare former Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata either.
The withdrawal of the ad was met with anguish and criticism.