Bengaluru: After Fab India, another ad has run into problem, this time featuring Aamir Khan.
BJP Member of Parliament Anantkumar Hegde has raised a red flag on an advertisement by tyre major Ceat Ltd in which Khan is seen advising people not to burst crackers on the streets. In the same breath, the MP asked the company to also address the "problem of blocking roads in the name of Namaz and noise emitted from mosques during Azan."
Saying that the advertisement will create “unrest among the Hindus”, Hegde pointed out in a letter to the company's MD and CEO Anant Vardhan Goenka that: "Your company's recent advertisement in which Aamir Khan advising people not to fire crackers on the streets is giving a very good message. Your concern to public issues needs applause. In this regard, I request you to address one more problem faced by people on roads, i.e., blocking roads in the name of Namaz on Fridays and other important festive days by Muslims."
The letter dated October 14 said it is a very common scene in many Indian cities where Muslims block busy roads and perform Namaz, and at that time, vehicles like ambulances and firefighter vehicles are also struck in traffic causing "grave losses".
The MP from Uttara Kannada also said that every day, "loud noise is emitted from mikes arranged on the top of mosques in our country when Azan is given. That sound is beyond the permissible limits. On Fridays, it is prolonged for some more time. It is causing great inconvenience to people suffering from different ailments and taking rest, people working in different establishments and teachers teaching in classrooms. Actually, this list of sufferers is very long and only a few are mentioned here."
"As you are very keen and sensitive towards the problems faced by the general public and you also belong to the Hindu community, I am sure you can feel the discrimination done to the Hindus since centuries," the MP said. Nowadays, a group of "Anti-Hindu actors" always hurt the Hindu sentiments whereas, they never try to expose the wrong doings of their community, he pointed out.
"Therefore, I kindly request you to take cognisance of this particular incident where your company's advertisement has created an unrest among the Hindus," Hegde concluded in his letter. He hoped that Ceat Tyres will respect the Hindu sentiment and will not hurt it directly or indirectly by any means.
