Netizens call for complete boycott of Fabindia over 'Jashn-e-Riwaaz' collection, brand takes down ad promo

Clothing brand Fabindia, famous for its ethnic prints and design, fell into trouble after it released its latest advertisement promoting the new festive clothing collection with several people on the social media calling for a complete boycott of the brand. Soon after the #BoycottFabindia started to trend on the microblogging site Twitter, the New Delhi based clothing company took down its original tweet posted on October 9 along with the ad promo of their collection.

The Indian brand launched its latest collection titled 'Jashn-e-Riwaaz, showing off its fresh traditional wear for which FabIndia has been receiving backlash. The new collection kickstarted a controversy on Twitter with many slamming the brand for "de-Hinduising Deepawali".

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Yuva Morcha President Tejasvi Surya, too joined others and slammed the brand on Twitter for making a "deliberate attempt of abrahamisation of Hindu festivals". "Deepavali is not Jash-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," Surya tweeted.


However, a Fabindia spokesperson said the collection 'Jashn-e-Riwaaz' is not their Diwali collection and the products under the title celebrates Indian traditions, in literal sense. "Our Diwali collection, called 'Jhilmil si Diwali' is yet to be launched," she told TOI, adding "We at Fabindia have always stood for celebration of India with its myriad traditions in all hues. In fact 'Fabindia-Celebrate India' is our tagline and also a wordmark. Our current capsule of products under the name 'Jashn-e-Riwaaz' is a celebration of Indian traditions. The phrase means that, literally."

The brand is being criticised on Twitter for unnecessarily trying to "push a secular view on a Hindu festival". A customer, who used to be a loyal buyer of the brand, even ripped off the clothing pieces he has from Fabindia and turned it in to dusters and shoe cleaners while recording a video of the act which he then shared on the microblogging site, joining the #boycottfabindia movement.

"Dear Fabindia, I had many Kurtas from you. Given your insult to #Diwali I have decided to not wear a single one. Am putting them to good uses. Have cut them to make car cleaners, dusters and shoe shine cloths," the person wrote on Twitter.




A similar incident had happened recently when another clothing brand, Manyaavar also faced a boycott for its ad featuring Alia Bhatt based on the Hindu tradition 'Kanyadaan'. In the past, jewellery brand Tanishq was also trolled for their advertisement on inter-faith marriages.