During festivals like Navratri or Diwali, the so called educated liberals, who would be in deep slumber on other incidents, would suddenly wake up, gather their ‘conscience’ and indulge in Hindu bashing at the drop of the hat. They would suddenly turn into ‘woke progressives’, and wouldn’t hesitate from resorting to some of the nastiest methods, just to peddle their vicious agenda.
In the latest addition to the ‘Navratri bashing’, an ad for a steroid supplement promoted the product, slyly indicating the occasion of Dandiya, a folk dance synonymous with Navratri, as associated with erotic emotions, as noted below:-
For those unaware, Dandiya Raas is a popular folk festival that originated in Gujarat, where devout disciples of Goddess Durga indulge in a festive dance, clashing dandiya sticks with each other, and trying their hands in the popular folk dance of Garba. Initially limited to Gujarat, Dandiya soon picked up name and fame and is now extremely popular worldwide for its enthusiasm, its youthful spirit and the charm that follows this festival.
But according to the ad published above, which promotes a ‘potency enhancement’ capsule on the lines of ‘Shilajit capsules’, suggests that the Dandiya is not a vibrant folk fest which celebrates the spirit of Navratri, but a mere ‘meet fest’, where all the participants think of is to get ‘scored’. Is there no limit to shamelessness?
This defamation of Dandiya, though bizarre and atrocious to say the least, is nothing unexpected. This is just another well thought, but poorly executed tactic to defame and shame anything even remotely related to Hinduism. Reducing Dandiya to a mere sleaze fest is just the tip of the iceberg, the real problem lies way deeper. Following are some articles which reflect the inherent contempt these so called liberals have for Hinduism:-
If you think the ad suggesting Dandiya as a chance to get ‘scored’ was enough, this is only another notorious addition in the already blood boiling list of atrocious ads, that tend to reduce the significance of Hindu festivals like Navratri in a ludicrous manner, just the way a condom ad involving Sunny Leone evoked the ire of the Gujaratis last year when the ad slyly suggested that the product should be specifically used during the Navratri festival, especially when out for the Dandiya fest:-
As if that was enough, media portals like India Today shamelessly justified such insulting ads, trying to evoke the classic argument of how intolerant our society is, as evident from the articles mentioned below:-
To be honest enough, liberty is okay, but normalizing vulgarity in the name of liberty is not. We’ve already tolerated the likes of Chetan Bhagat, who portrayed the Navratri festival in a vulgar way in most of his books. We don’t need to remember what exactly happened in the Navratri scenes of ‘Kai Po Che’, do we?
Also, there should be a limit to such defamation of Hindu traditions. Dandiya is a celebration of devotion [bhakti] and youth in true spirit. Such ads, as the ones displayed, shouldn’t only be discouraged, but also removed with immediate effect.