Taking objection to the advertisement of the tyre company CEAT Limited, regarding the advice given by Bollywood’s famous actor Aamir Khan to people not to burst crackers on the roads, BJP MP Anant Kumar Hegde has said that the company should also solve the problem related to “blocking of roads in the name of prayer and noise emanating from mosques during azaan”.
In a letter to the company’s chief executive officer Anant Vardhan Goenka, Hegde has asked him to take note of the recent advertisement that has created “outrage among Hindus”. Hegde said in the letter, “Your company’s recent advertisement in which Aamir Khan advises 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.”
He said in his letter dated October 14, “It is a very common scene in many Indian cities where Muslims block busy roads and perform Namaz. At that time, 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.”
He said, “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.“
The MP said in the letter, “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.“
Hegde said, “Therefore, I kindly request you to take a cognizance of this particular incident where your company’s advertisement has created an 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. Thank you and Happy Deepavali!“
Anant Kumar Hegde’s letter below:
This comes just days after the backlash faced by Fabindia for its ad campaign in which it used a Urdu phrase “Jashn-e-Riwaaz” to describe the festival of Diwali. Fabindia subsequently had to withdraw its advertisement and clarified that the phrase was meant to celebrate Indian traditions and not exclusively the festival of Diwali.