On November 1, Elle India finally deleted the controversial article in which the author had ranted against Hindus for raising their voice against certain brands that misrepresent Hindu festivals and spread negativity around Hindu celebrations. The archived version of the article by author Ruman Baig can be seen here.
Interestingly, the controversy was not limited to Elle publishing an unnecessary rant article, but there was more to the story. The illustrator that goes by the name Lord_VoldeMaut alleged that Elle did not take permission from him to publish his artwork on their Instagram account with the snippet of the article in the description.
The controversial article and series of events around it
On October 31, the fashion magazine Elle India decided to give Ruman Baig, a fashion writer platform to rant against Hindus for criticising brands who have insulted Hindu customs, rituals and festivals with their ads or campaigns.
Since Hindus have taken to online platforms and social media to criticise brands that attack Hindu culture, customs or festivals, the author was so rattled that in the so-called satirical article, she tried to paint Hindus as villains. She alleged that because of the continuous attacks on the brands, the designers and creative artists could not ‘go wild with their imagination’.
It is notable here that brands like Tanishq and FabIndia were only criticised online by their target customer base which did not like their ads. Nobody vandalised their showrooms, no one caused them harm. Seeing that their target customer base is not impressed with their ad, these brands had withdrawn the ads and issued clarifications. But the article and the accompanying illustration by Elle had tried to present a dishonest image, portraying as if Hindus were indulging in violence against some particular brands, forcing them to withdraw ads.
Also, like all self-proclaimed ‘secular-liberal’ virtue signalling that is so common in India, the article had issues only with Hindus, its target were only the Hindus, who had objected to certain brands. It had no mentions of the actual instances of atrocities and intolerance displayed by other communities.
The article did not please anyone and faced severe backlash from the Hindu community. On the other hand, Elle India used an illustration in which Hindus were seen closing down businesses of FabIndia etc. Interestingly, the illustration was not included in the article. Soon after the illustration and snippet of the article got published on Elle India, where they had tagged both the author and the illustrator, they faced backlash.
Amidst the backlash, Elle India removed the author’s name from the Instagram post but kept the handle of the illustrator resulting in him facing the backlash. He finally deactivated his Twitter account and came back with a changed handle which is currently private on Twitter. Notably, the artist regularly posts anti-Hindu posts on his social media accounts.
After getting backlash from the Hindus and the illustrator, Elle India quietly removed the post from Instagram. However, the article stayed live. They might have thought that the backlash would cool down, but it did not happen. On Monday late night, the article was also removed from the online platform of Elle India. The people who were behind the article have locked their social media accounts. Elle India has not issued an apology or statement yet.
