Indian jewellery chain withdraws ad after outrage by Hindu hardliners

NEW DELHI: One of India's top jewellery retailers has withdrawn an advert featuring an interfaith baby shower after a vicious backlash on social media by Hindu hardliners who said it glorified "love jihad".

Critics of the withdrawal pointed out it exemplified the atmosphere of religious intolerance towards minorities that has grown since Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power six years ago.

The advert by Tanishq - owned by the giant Tata Group - showed a Muslim family organising a traditional baby shower for their Hindu daughter-in-law.

Tata's owners are from the Parsi minority who follow the Zoroastrian religion.

Tanishq said the idea behind the "Ekatvam" (unity and oneness) collection was to "celebrate the coming together of people from different walks of life".

"We are deeply saddened with the inadvertent stirring of emotions and withdraw this film keeping in mind the hurt sentiments and well being of our employees, partners and store staff," a statement said late Tuesday.

The NDTV channel reported Wednesday that a Tanishq store was attacked in Modi's home state of Gujarat and the manager forced to write an apology note.

Despite the advert's withdrawal, #BoycottTanishq was trending on Twitter, with one user saying it was meant to showcase the "love jihad collection".