"Love Jihad": Tanishq takes down ad depicting inter-faith marriage after boycott calls trend on the internet

Mumbai: Jewellery brand 'Tanishq' recently released an ad showing an inter-faith couple in order to promote their jewellery line called "Ekatvam". However, the ad. which shows a Muslim family celebrating a baby shower for their Hindu daughter-in-law, was soon flagged as promoting "love jihad" and met with intense criticism.

Many users condemned the ad for its depiction of inter-faith marriage. "Why are you showing a Hindu "daughter in law" to a muslim family and glorifying it? Why dont you show a Muslim daughter in law in your ads with a Hindu family? Look like you are promoting #LoveJihad & favouring a particular Faith only," wrote a user.

The barrage of hate tweets soon meant that "BoycottTanishq" started trending on social media.

Taking affront at the backlash to the ad, Congress veteran Shashi Tharoor wrote, "So Hindutva bigots have called for a boycott of ⁦@TanishqJewelry⁩ for highlighting Hindu-Muslim unity through this 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?"

"Those boycotting the Tanishq ad don't like seeing daughter in law(s) happy around mother in law's. You have seen too many soaps & too much prime times news," wrote another Congressman Abishek Sanghvi.

"It's an established fact that the rightwing will target any Indian company that promotes interfaith harmony, but this BoycottTanishq campaign has an especially ugly edge to it. Over the last few years, the #lovejihad campaign has been v successful in some North Indian states. Couples are policed on suspicion of being of different religions — interfaith and intercaste marriage are the two things that the RW fears most. #LoveJihad itself, the ugly and false belief that Muslims deliberately target Hindu women, is not fringe anymore. It's mainstream," wrote novelist Nilanjana Roy.

Tanishq, it seems, had finally had enough. The company first disabled the likes and dislikes. Later, it took down the video from social media itself.

Ruing this, senior journalist Sagarika Ghose wrote, "How degrading& ludicrous that lovely #TanishqJewelry ad on inter-faith has been pulled because of vicious trolling. Pathetic Hindutva trolls know nothing of Hinduism, nothing of culture, nothing of India. They should be pulled off all platforms."

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