Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra on Monday criticised the recent Dabur’s Fem bleach ad and has asked the state’s Director-General to probe the advertisement which showed same-sex couple celebrating Hindu festival of Karwachauth. The ad received criticism as well as it has been praised too.
“Our intention is not to offend any beliefs, customs and traditions, religious or otherwise. If we have hurt the sentiments of any individual or group, it was unintentional, and we apologise,” tweeted Dabur.
“I consider this a serious matter. More so because such advertisements and clippings are made on the rituals of Hindu festivals only. They (the advertisement) showed lesbians celebrating Karva Chauth and seeing each other through a sieve. In future, they will show two men taking ‘feras’ (marrying each other according to Hindu rituals). This is objectionable,” said Mishra.
MP to act against Dabur's same sex couple Karva Chauth ad. "It's a serious matter, DGP has been asked to examine it and ask concerned company to remove the ad or face legal action," said home minister Narottam Mishra. @NewIndianXpress @TheMornStandard @gsvasu_TNIE @khogensingh1 pic.twitter.com/PUNB07qyJX
— Anuraag Singh (@anuraag_niebpl) October 25, 2021
“I’ve asked the DGP (Director General of Police) to ask the company to withdraw this advertisement. And if it fails to do so, take legal steps after examining the advertisement,” he added.
Mentioning the vandalism at OTT series Ashram 3 set by Bajrang Dal, MP Mishra stated, “There are attempts to intentionally target Hindu religion in the name of web series for long time. Considering the sentiments of majority community, [director] Prakash Jha should consider changing the name of Ashram web series.”
He further stated, “the state government would issue guidelines that would specify that if movie scripts contained material that would hurt religious sentiments, then the makers would have to submit the story script to the government and begin filming only after receiving permission.”
