So, Tanishq recently came up with an advertisement featuring an interfaith baby shower. Within no time, the brand started receiving incessant hate and trolling for apparently promoting ‘love jihad‘. The brand was forced to take it down, and also, ended up losing crores of money amid the heat after its stocks hit an all-time low.
All of this transpired within a span of three-four days. And despite the fact that the advertisement has already been taken down, the brand continues to receive hatred on social media. From religious propaganda to an extremely myopic and misguiding concept, the ad has been called a number of things since then. It has been thoroughly convoluted and twisted for the purpose of a forced discourse.
And if not anything else, the recent Tanishq row has really revealed the political faultlines in India that have caste as its basis. However, watch the ad and you’ll find that it is nothing but a beautiful message which, all thanks to communal politics, has snowballed into something really sinister.
The actual meaning and message of the ad has truly been lost somewhere in translation. And it would have remained so had it not been for some women who recently shared their stories of interfaith marriages on social media. These stories literally challenge every single argument that has been given against the Tanishq ad and therefore we urge that you read them all:
The Interfaith Godbharai That Actually Happened
Yesterday, actor-director Rasika Agashe took to Twitter to share her real-life story of an inter-faith marriage. Interestingly, Rasika has actually experienced in real life what the Tanishq advertisement showed on screen and that should shut everyone who has been calling the ad a make-believe concept!
Sharing a beautiful picture from her godbharai ceremony, Rasika wrote, “Meri godbharai.. socha share kar dun.. and before crying out love jihad, let’s learn about special marriage act..” Here’s her tweet:
The Muslim Girl Who Married A Hindu Man
A number of people who have protested against the Tanishq ad, have called it bigotted and religious propaganda conceptualised to promote ‘love jihad.’ The major point of contention for these people has been the fact that the woman shown in the ad is a Hindu girl married into a Muslim family. Consequently, many people on social media have talked about how it is always a Hindu girl who marries a Muslim guy and never the vice-versa.
Twitter user, Zara Raj Parwal (maiden name Zara Farooqui) gave a fitting answer to all these claims by sharing pictures from her Hindu wedding. She wrote, “This is for @TanishqJewelry and #bigots who called for #BoycottTanishq and have questioned “what if” religions were changed. So here goes, my maiden name is Zara Farooqui and I am married to Nikhil Parwal @NikZar05 since 2016. And these are our wedding pics. #TanishqAd.” Here’s her tweet:
A Woman Who Had No Problem In Adjusting Into A Muslim Family
The Tanishq ad has also been called make-believe by quoting examples of Hindu girls who met a bad fate by getting involved with a Muslim guy. However, the truth is a lot of women in India meet a bad end by getting involved with men from all sorts of religions and faith. And it is not a religion that needs to be called out here but our long-held misogynistic and sexist mindsets. But don’t listen to us, listen to this Hindu woman (who is in a happy marriage with a Muslim man) instead:
These stories bring us much hope amid the politically turbulent times and extremely complicated discourse making in the country. What about you?
Featured Image: Twitter