BENGALURU: Well-known ethnic apparel brand FabIndia deleted its tweet announcing the festive collection ‘Jashn-e-Riwaaz’, after Bengaluru South MP and BJP Yuva Morcha President Tejasvi Surya slammed FabIndia by tweeting, “Deepavali is not Jashn-e-Riwaaz. This deliberate attempt of abrahamisation of Hindu festivals, depicting models without traditional Hindu attires, must be called out. And brands like @FabindiaNews must face economic costs for such deliberate misadventures.”
On October 9, FabIndia had run its ad campaign for Diwali on Twitter, stating, “As we welcome the festival of love and light, ‘Celebration-e-Riwaaz’ by FabIndia is a collection that beautifully pays tribute to Indian culture.”
Following Surya’s tweet, Chairman of Manipal Global Education Mohandas Pai also tweeted, “@FabindiaNews is doing this deliberately and consumers must protest this misuse like they did for others”.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, Pai said that FabIndia should “respect the religious festivals of every religion, and not use inappropriate terms to connect their product with such religious festivals”.
He added that all religious festivals are “emotional and deeply respected by members of their community. What they have done for Deepavali is condemnable. FabIndia can link their brand to any term they want to without linking it to any such festival. They have irreversibly damaged their brand”.
TNIE tried to get in touch with Surya, but there was no response from him.