FabIndia, a garment retailing chain, was today forced to withdraw its promotional video aimed at promoting its new festive line after a backlash from the BJP, social media users and right-wing groups. The brand found itself at the receiving end after the social media users and the right-wing groups accused it of defacing the Hindu festival Diwali and hurting their religious sentiments by unnecessarily inserting Muslim ideologies in a Hindu festival.

The company, however, said that the promo in question is not of a Diwali collection and the retailing chain’s Diwali ad will be launched soon under the ‘Jhilmil si Diwali’ tag.

“We at FabIndia have always stood for the celebration of India with its myriad traditions in all hues…Our current capsule of products under the name Jashn-e-Riwaaz is a celebration of Indian traditions. The phrase means that, literally. The capsule is not our Diwali Collection of products. Our Diwali collection is called ‘Jhilmil si Diwali’ is yet to be launched,” reported PTI quoting a company spokesperson.

The Jashn-e-Riwaaz collection promo, which was made public on October 9, many social media users called for boycotting the brand. “As we welcome the festival of love and light, Jashn-e-Riwaaz by Fabindia is a collection that beautifully pays homage to Indian culture,” FabIndia had said in a Tweet while sharing the controversial promo.

Slamming the brand, BJP MP Tejasvi Surya said that Deepavali is not Jash-e-Riwaaz. “Deepavali is not Jash-e-Riwaaz. This deliberate attempt of abrahamisation of Hindu festivals, depicting models without traditional Hindu attires, must be called out. And brands like @fabindiaNews must face economic cost for such deliberate misadventures,” he said.

Soon hashtag #BoycottFabindia began trending. This is not the first time that a brand has faced backlash for allegedly hurting religious sentiments through its promotional videos. Tata Group’s jewellery brand Tanishq and detergent brand Surf Excel had also faced similar trolling in the past.