Amid controversy stoked by their 'Jashn-E-Riwaaz' advertisement, and the deletion of their tweet featuring the same, FabIndia has clarified that "Our Diwali collection 'Jhilmil si Diwali' is yet to be launched."
The brand's spokesperson was quoted by ANI as saying:
"Our current capsule of products under name Jashn-e-Riwaaz is celebration of Indian traditions. The phrase means that, literally. Capsule is not our Diwali collection of products. Please keep a look out."
The tweet, which has now been deleted, had stated, “As we welcome the festival of love and light, Jashn-E-Riwaaz by Fabindia is a collection that beautifully pays homage to Indian culture." However, following backlash, it appeared to have been removed by the brand.
THE BACKLASH
The backlash was driven by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Yuva Morcha President Tejasvi Surya's tweet, who criticised the Fabindia ad for the "abrahamisation of Hindu festivals" and added that the apparel brand, “must face economic costs for such deliberate misadventures.”
He added, “Deepavali is not Jashn-e-Riwaaz. This deliberate attempt of abrahamisation of Hindu festivals, depicting models without traditional Hindu attires, must be called out.”
Faced with calls for boycott, apart from withdrawing its ad, Fabindia issued a clarification saying that 'Jashn-E-Riwaaz' was not its Diwali clothing collection; the 'Jhil Mil se Diwali' collection has yet to be launched, NDTV reported.
Surya has riled up controversies before like the BBMP bed scam controversy during the second COVID wave and has often made ‘objectionable comments’.
BUT SOME CAME OUT IN FAVOUR OF FABINDIA
Even as #BoycottFabIndia began to trend on Twitter on Monday, some netizens, however, came out in favour of Fabindia, claiming the boycott to be "beyond ridiculous".
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