HDFC Bank found itself in a pickle after a published advertisement featuring a woman sporting a STOP sign as a bindi was taken into objection by many right-wing trolls.
Instead of focusing on raising awareness of financial fraud awareness, which the ad was about, right-wing trollers choose to look into the woman’s forehead that sported a STOP sign as a bindi.
“Join the Vigil Army, Let’s fight back. Financial frauds are the new enemy and they are bigger and trickier than ever. Don’t Get Scammed is an initiative to arm you with all the information you need to stay ahead of the latest rampant frauds,” read the commercial.
The ad ignited anti-Hindu sentiments. Calling HDFC as #antihindu and #antihinduhdfc many started trolling on social media platform X.
One user named Mr Sinha said, “The use of a bindi as a ‘no’ symbol by @HDFC during Navratri is highly disrespectful to Hindu sentiments. This move is completely unacceptable and shows a lack of cultural sensitivity. Why is everyone so desperate to mock Hindus?
Another account named Hindu Post asked HDFC to apologise.
Ujjawal Rai, another right wing troller tweeted complete boycott of HDFC bank. “Time to totally boycott @HDFC_Bank because they haven’t apologize after that much backlash because they hate hindus soo much. This company is owned by a Gujrati Jain. Even if they apologize we should boycott them and never use any service of HDFC. #AntiHinduHDFC#BoycottHDFC”
Hindutva news channel Sudarshan News asked if bankers of HDFC were Hindu phobia. It condemned the ad as extremely derogatory.
