The row over Tata-group owned Jewellery brand Tanishq over its ad on interfaith household has taken an ugly turn with right-wing trolls targeting a Muslim employee of the company, forcing him to delete his account.
Tanishq employee, Mansoor Khan was subjected to hate messages and threats over the ad, even though his role in the campaign was not established. Several right-wing Twitter handles had shared the links and screenshots of Mansoor Khan’s LinkedIn profile with his contact details calling him a ‘Jihadi’ and demanding Tanishq to sack him.
The Brand Manager of Tanishq got life Threats by Tolerant People. He was forced to even delete his Linked-in Profile. His Mobile Number was circulated. This was what forced the Brand to Withdraw their Ad pic.twitter.com/6YEWtC7Sk3
— Joy (@Joydas) October 13, 2020
One right-wing hate website referring to Khan wrote that, “Until this Jihadi is here, they do this again and again by offering such discounts for #Muslims during sales and not offering the same for Hindus. (sic)”
Mansoor Khan is the Brand Manager of @TanishqJewelry for Media & Communications who ordered the #LoveJihaad video concept. #TanishqJewelry Should sack this Bigot ASAP, otherwise Hindus know how to Stop going to Tanishq. Already 2.5% drop!
@RNTata2000 @TataCompanies pic.twitter.com/bPfAtVzciP
— Gopi K (@kmgnath) October 14, 2020
Jihadi Tanishq!
Sack Mansoor Khan your brand manager! @TanishqJewelryWhy do you have jewellery only for muslims not even one for Hindu??
So you dont care about Hindus?? pic.twitter.com/eT0yETFZCD
— Kiran RJ (@kiranmai_rj) October 13, 2020
On Tuesday, Tanishq issued a statement saying “We are deeply saddened with the inadvertent stirring of emotions and withdraw this film keeping in mind the hurt sentiments and well being of our employees, partners and store staff. The idea behind the Ekatvam campaign is to celebrate the coming together of people from different walks of life, local communities and families during these challenging times and celebrate the beauty of oneness.”
— Tanishq (@TanishqJewelry) October 13, 2020
However, it did not show solidarity or support to its employee, who has been at the receiving end over the ad.
Mansoor Khan has deleted his Linkedin profile. This is his profile on RocketReach.
Expose @TanishqJewelry till they apologize & remove #LoveJihad advertisement.#BycottTanishq pic.twitter.com/yly0r8L4Vq
Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.— Prashant Patel Umrao (@ippatel) October 12, 2020
The advertisement shows a baby shower being thrown by a Muslim family for their daughter-in-law, who is a Hindu. Towards the end of the video, the young woman points out to her mother-in-law that baby showers are not a tradition in their household. To which the mother-in-law replies: “Isn’t it a tradition for every home to keep daughters happy?”
The ad drew severe criticism from the right-wing social media section who accused the company of promoting ‘love jihad’. ‘Love Jihad’ is a hate campaign and false propaganda run by anti-Islamic forces claiming that Muslim men lure non-Muslim girls, and trick them into marriage and force them to accept Islam.
The hashtag #BoycottTanishq has been trending across social media sites such as Twitter since Monday. Buckling under the pressure, Tanishq pulled down the ad. However, the brand was criticised for “bowing down” to the “trolls”.
In Gujarat’s Kutch, the showroom of the company received threats over the ad. Threats were also made at the store and the manager was forced to write an apology note.
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