IPO bound fashion brand FABINDIA faces the ire of netizen over its new “Jashn-e-Riwaaz” collection. Fabindia had recently tweeted its new collection “Jashn-e-riwaaz” ahead of Diwali.

“As we welcome the festival of love and light. Jashn-e-Riwaaz by Fabindia is a collection that beautifully pays homage to Indian culture”

-Read the now deleted tweet by Fabindia.

This led to many angry tweets along with #BoycottFabindia trending on the internet. The people saw the name of the collection as an attack on the festival of Diwali.  Many eminent personalities made a series of tweets against fabindia. BJP Yuva Morcha president Tejasvi Surya objected to the ad campaign by Fabindia, saying “Deepavali is not Jashn-e-Riwaaz”

“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.”

-Tweeted Tejasvi Surya from his Twitter handle and tagged fabindia’s earlier tweet.

“Deepavali is not Jash-e-Riwaaz…Period!!!

Seems like Fab India has done this deliberately to hurt Hindu Sentiment.

#BoycottFabIndia https://t.co/oczgyUlmIF”

-Tweeted Uttarakhand’s MLA Rajkumar while sharing the screenshot of the now deleted tweet by Fabindia.

Many other users tweeted against Fabindia for unnecessarily trying to bring religion in their branding and trying “impose a secular worldview”.

Support for Fabindia

While Fabindia took down the tweets to placate the situation, many social media users criticized the “intimidation tactics” used by “Hindutva groups” against brands.

“These are not foreign brands. They are completely homegrown brands. With the exception of Tanishq, they are all started by first generation entrepreneurs.

Imagine the message it gives budding entrepreneurs in India today.”

-Tweeted a user in support of Fabindia and other brands.

REACTION FROM FABINDIA

 Fabindia was quick to address the controversy by pulling down the much talked about tweets promoting their controversial collection. A spokesperson from Fabindia informed that Jashn-e-Riwaaz is not their Diwali collection. Their Diwali collection is not out yet. The name of their Diwali collection would be “Jhilmil si Diwali” and it would be out soon. “We at Fabindia have always stood for celebration of India with its myriad traditions in all hues.” He said, “Our current capsule of products under the name Jashn-e-Riwaaz is a celebration of Indian traditions. The phrase means that, literally.”

“Trolls, competitor-encouraged bots, sensitive people, hyper-sensitive people, hurt-people and all kinds of robots and human beings reside in this place we call social media. Anyone who has been observing the trends on a hyper-sensitive social media would not have attempted this for sure” said brand expert Harish Bijoor, who runs boutique consulting Bijoor Consults to a news agency.

Similar incidents

Fabindia is not the first brand to face the heat of the netizens over their tweets or promotions. Earlier, a similar controversy had grappled the TATA’s jewellery brand Tanishq when it ran an advertisement promoting inter-faith marriages. Tanishq apologized for having hurt anyone’s sentiment and pulled down the advertisement instantly.

Other brands having faced backlash include Manyaavar when its advertisement featuring Bollywood actress Alia Bhatt. The campaign was for Manyaavar’s Bridal fashion “Mohey”. The advertisement questioned the concept of “Kanyadaan”. Many saw it as an attack on the rituals of Hindu marriage rituals. Similarly, CEAT’s commercial featuring Aamir Khan urging people to not burst crackers was seen as an attack on Diwali.

ABOUT FABINDIA

Fabindia was established in 1960 by John Bissell. John Bissel was an American working for the Ford foundation in New Delhi. Fabindia expanded as a chain store and today operates close to 327 domestic stores and 14 international stores. Fabindia sells handmade garments by craftspeople from rural India.