Uttara Kannada MP and Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) leader Anantkumar Hegde shot a letter to CEAT Tyres MD and CEO, Anant Vardhan Goenka urging the company to release yet another advertisement showcasing nuisance faced due to road blockages by namaz.
The letter was written in response to a CEAT Tyres ‘awareness campaign’ ad released a few weeks ago, showcasing Bollywood actor Aamir Khan schooling children on how bursting crackers on the road causes inconvenience.
The actor in the TVC says, “Roads are to drive vehicles and not burst crackers.” Though the advertisement features ‘celebration of winning a cricket match,’ it was released just ahead of major Hindu festivals of Dussehra and Diwali.
Highlighting this ‘public message,’ Hegde in his letter to CEAT Tyres CEO said, “Your concern to public issues need applause. In this regard, I request you to address one more problem faced by people on roads, i.e., blocking roads in the name of namaz on Friday and other important festive days by Muslims.”
Hegde further stated that how even emergency vehicles such as ambulances and firetrucks are left hapless on being stuck in traffic caused by such blockades, putting several lives at risk.
Since the brand is on a ‘public awareness’ spree, the BJP MP also urged the brand to highlight the noise pollution caused due to loudspeakers installed at mosques emanating loud sounds every day sometimes exceeding the permissible decibel limit.
“As you are very keen and sensitive towards the problems faced by the general public and you also belong to the Hindu community, I am sure you can feel the discrimination done to Hindus for centuries,” said Hegde further.
Taking a dig at Aamir Khan, Hegde also mentioned that it has become a norm for some anti-Hindu actors to point out everything wrong about the Hindu community while ignoring the ills of their own.
Requesting the MD and CEO of CEAT Tyres to take cognizance of the matter, Hegde concluded the letter by wishing a ‘Very Happy Deepavali.’
Full text of the letter by MP Anantkumar Hegde to CEAT CEO and MD
Dear Shri Goenka, Your company’s recent advertisement in which Amir Khan advising people not to fire crackers on the streets is giving a very good message. Your concern for public issues needs applause.
In this regard, I request you to address one more problem faced by people on roads, i. e., blocking roads in the name of Namaz on Fridays and other important festive days by Muslims. It is a very common scene in many Indian cities where Muslims block busy roads and perform Namaz. At that time, vehicles like ambulances and firefighters vehicles are also struck in traffic causing grave losses.
I also request you to highlight the issue of noise pollution in your ads. Every day, loud noise is emitted from mikes arranged on the top of mosques in our country when Azan is given. That sound is beyond the permissible limits. On Fridays, it is prolonged for some more time. It is causing great inconvenience to people suffering from different ailments and taking rest, people working in different establishments and teachers teaching in classrooms. Actually, this list of sufferers is very long and only a few are mentioned here.
As you are very keen and sensitive towards the problems faced by the general public and you also belong to the Hindu community, I am sure you can feel the discrimination done to the Hindus since centuries. Nowadays, a group of Anti-Hindu actors always hurt the Hindu sentiments whereas they never try to expose the wrong doings of their community.
Therefore, I kindly request you to take a cognizance of this particular incident where your company’s advertisement has created an unrest among the Hindus. I hope in future your organization will respect the Hindu sentiment and will not hurt it directly or indirectly by any means.
Thank you and Happy Deepavali!
‘Fabindia faces the heat’
Recently, yet another Indian brand faced the heat for cultural appropriation after it named its Diwali collection ‘Jashn-e-Riwaaz.’
Fabindia on October 01 launched its ‘festive season’ collection and released multiple digital ads promoting the same. However, the collection meant for ‘festival of lights’ (Diwali) carried an Urdu name and sported models with no bindis, thereby, drawing flak from the netizens.
Several took objection to the brand taking a little too much creative liberty for a Hindu festival and called for a boycott. The brand was forced to take down its posts and digital ad campaign. It also quietly renamed the collection to ‘Jhilmil si Diwali’ and claimed that ‘Jashn-e-Riwaaz’ was not intended to denote Diwali.
The bogus justification led to further outrage by the netizens with #boycottfabindia trending on Twitter.
