Fabindia faces ire for branding its Diwali collection as 'Jashn-e-Riwaaz'

On Monday, traditional garments retailer Fabindia courted controversy with its advertisement about the upcoming festival of Diwali. On Saturday, October 9, Fabindia publicized their latest collection 'Jashn-e-Riwaaz' which has been featured by Vogue. The company took to their official social media handles and wrote, "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 has now deleted its original tweet, following an adverse response.

Fabindia 'Jashn-e-Riwaaz' Diwali collection sparks controversy

Fabindia's now-deleted tweet depicted several male and female models donning sarees and kurta pyjamas. The tweet wasn't received well by those who took exception to the use of the 'Urdu-style' framing of the phrase. Jashn means 'celebration' and Riwaaz means 'custom.' 

BJP leader Tejasvi Surya also took to his Twitter handle and objected to the clothing brand's ad campaign. He said Fabindia 'must face economic costs for such deliberate misadventures.' The national president of BJP Yuva Morcha said, "Deepavali is not Jashn-e-Riwaaz. This deliberate attempt of abrahamisation of Hindu festivals, depicting models without traditional Hindu attires, must be called out," 

Chairman of Manipal Global Education, Mohandas Pai also slammed the brand for its choice of words. His tweet read, "Maan you do not get it! Use of Alien terms for a Hindu festival is a deliberate attempt to take away our heritage and subvert it! You can use any brand name you want post-Diwali but at this time, linking it to Diwali shows a perverted mindset!" 

Here's what people are saying about Fabindia's Diwali collection

A netizen tweeted, "Those ashamed to even utter the name our festival "Diwali", Do they deserve even a Rupee from our money? Take a hike!" A Twitter user chipped in, "Fab India would be heart broken to know that the festival of love and light, originates from culture that says "आचार" & "उत्सव". Not J-e-R." Another one added, "Hello @FabindiaNews, You have named your company as Fab India but don't even know how Indians dress up during Diwali. You call your collection traditional but forgot traditions of India."

Image: Fabindia