Hindustan Unilever’s Brooke Bond tea recently got under fire for its controversial advertisement on Kumbh Mela and ageing parent-children relationship. While HUL received flak, Baba Ramdev soon jumped on board, drawing parallel with East India Company and calling for a complete boycott of the foreign company for outraging Hindu sentiment.

The ad in concern concludes with a statement — “At this holy gathering [Kumbh Mela], many elderly are abandoned by their families.” The ad was posted with the hashtag ‘apno ko apnao’. This had mired HUL for presenting Indians and Kumbh Mela in a bad light.

Following the lash out, HUL took down the tweet, and posted it again with another caption, now saying that the company encourages to hold the hands of those who made us who we are. However, the controversial statement that got HUL embroiled in the issue in the first place, is still in the video of the ad.

It is not the first time that Baba Ramdev has called out rival brands such as Pantene and major FMCG Indian players — Godrej and HUL. The competition between his desi Patanjali and foreign HUL has been stiff since Baba Ramdev entered the FMCG domestic segment. Baba Ramdev even roped in e-commerce majors Amazon and Flipkart to sell its products and reach a wider audience. Ramdev had earlier announced that Patanjali will overtake HUL by FY20 and become the world’s largest FMCG brand by 2025.

Brooke Bond has several tea and beverage brands in India including Lipton, Taj Mahal, 3 Roses, Red Label, Taaza and Bru. In 2018, HUL had beaten Tata Global to capture the maximum Tea market in India, leaving it behind by a significant margin.

Meanwhile, HUL shares remained mostly flat today at about Rs 1702.70 on BSE.