A day after Tanishq was forced to pull down an advertisement showing Hindu-Muslim marriage after backlash on social media, a mob of alleged Hindutva supporters reportedly barged into the jewelry brand's store in Gujarat's Gandhidham. The store manager was forced to write an apology over the ad which kicked up a row, reports said.
Reports add that even though the manager was asked to tender an apology for the ad on Tuesday evening, no vandalism took place there. The police was informed about the incident and patrolling has been increased in the area. Earlier reports suggested that the store was attacked.
The commercial that came under attack is a part of Tanishq’s current festive season's collection 'Ekatvam'. It shows a Hindu woman married into a Muslim family who is set for her baby shower. Her in-laws are shown to have gone to great lengths to make their daughter-in-law feel comfortable-- by performing Hindu rituals. This irked a certain section of the netizens who branded it as 'Love Jihad'.
Love Jihad or Romeo Jihad is a conspiracy theory that alleges that Muslim men target women belonging to non-Muslim communities in order to convert them to Islam by feigning love and marrying them.
The opposition to the ad gathered steam as 'Boycott Tanishq' trended on social media after the outrage. It later turned out that it was the threats received by the employees which forced the jewelry band to pull down the ad.
ALSO READ: Tanishq's Ad Showing Hindu-Muslim Couple Didn't End in 'Boycott'. It Threatened Employees' Lives
Late on Tuesday night, for the first time since the controversy and pulling of the ad, Tanishq put out a public statement on why it decided to withdraw the advertisement.
In the statement, they explained "the idea behind the Ektavam campaign is to celebrate the coming together of people from different walks of life, local communities and families during this challenging time and celebrate the beauty of oneness. 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 the well being of our employees, partners and store staff."
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