Mumbai, October 12: Tata Group's jewellery brand Tanishq has unveiled a new ad around interfaith marriage ahead of the festive season. However, the ad has been bashed online with people using the #BoycottTanishq and touting it as 'love jihaad'. The narrative is about a Hindu woman, married into a Muslim family, and she is all set for her baby shower. Her in-laws decide to replicate all the traditions as per Hindu customs.

It is a beautiful ad, but trolls on social media have accused the video ad of promoting love jihad. Romeo Jihad or love jihad is an Islamophobic conspiracy theory alleging that Muslim men target women belonging to non-Muslim communities for conversion to Islam by feigning love.

Here's Tanishq's new ad:

Here are some negative tweets which the ad has garnered on social media:

Urging people to use #BoycottTanishq

Storyline:

The woman can be seen dressed in traditional saree, jewellery and bindi, as people around her, dressed up like traditional Muslims, are taking her to a garden for a ‘surprise’. All the Hindu traditions are being followed on the occasion of the godbharai (baby shower) ceremony.

She asked her mother in law that this ritual is not even followed in their (Muslim families) home. To which, her mother in law replied saying that keeping the daughter happy is a universal ritual. The advertisement is a part of Tanishq’s festive season collection 'Ekatvam', which is a confluence of the country's finest art forms, intricately knitted into one.

The ad has been executed in a beautiful manner, the storyline takes the cake as it highlights the beautiful bond between a Hindu woman and her Muslim mother-in-law. The ad embraces cultural unity displaying interfaith marriage, love, faith and respect towards each other. It is really sad that there are some who are looking at it negatively and spreading hatred in these tough times.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 12, 2020 01:48 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).