Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Ananthkumar Hegde has taken objection to an advertisement by Ceat Ltd in which Bollywood actor Aamir Khan is shown advising people not to burst firecrackers on the streets.
Hegde in a letter dated October 14 asked the company's MD and CEO Anant Vardhan Goenka to take cognisance of the advertisement creating "unrest among the Hindus".
In his letter to Goenka, the Uttara Kannada MP said, "Your company's recent advertisement in which Aamir Khan advising people, not to firecrackers on the streets is giving a very good message. Your concern for 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."
Hegde pointed out that during Namaz when Muslims block busy roads and perform Namaz then vehicles like ambulances and firefighter vehicles are also struck in traffic causing grave losses.
"I also request you to highlight the issue of noise pollution in your ads. 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."
Further, the BJP MP said "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. Nowadays, a group of Anti-Hindu actors always hurt the Hindu sentiments whereas they never try to expose the wrong doings of their community."
"Therefore, I kindly request you to take cognizance of this particular incident where your company's advertisement has created unrest among the Hindus. I hope in future your organization will respect the Hindu sentiment and will not hurt it directly or indirectly by any means," the lawmaker said.
The advertisement in question has Aamir Khan speaking about not bursting firecrackers on the road after we win a cricket match. Instead he advises that we should burst crackers inside the society itself.
Here's the advertisement.
However, misinterpreting advertisement as Hinduphobic, not only Hegde, but many people took to Twitter to speak against Ceat Ltd using the hashtag #ShameonYouCeatTyres.
Have a look.
Recently, clothing brand Fabindia facing backlash withdrew its advertisement for its latest collection which it had called 'Jashn-e-Riwaaz'.
Meanwhile, there are also those who are calling out those selectively targeting brands on a regular basis now. Many also explained that people are misinterpreting the advertisement as it doesn't speak about Diwali or banning of crackers. The advertisement promotes road safety.
Have a look.
With inputs from ANI.
