A Hindu customer was asked by a D-Mart employee in Maharashtra’s Karjat (a suburb of Mumbai) to wipe off the tika/tilak he was sporting. As soon as Bajrang Dal activists learned of the incident they went to D-Mart. The video of the incident went viral on social media (SM) drawing flak from Hindus who were enraged by the blatant Hinduphobia on display.

From the conversation, it appears that the incident occurred on the day of the festival of Shri Ram Navami. The video shows an employee of D-Mart being confronted by Bajrang Dal activists about why he had objected to the entry of one of them sporting the tika (tilak) and why he asked the customer to wipe off his tika.

They also highlighted that they wouldn’t dare to ask customers of any other religion to get rid of their religious symbols. “Will you ask your Muslim customer to get rid of his skull cap”, one of the activists questioned?

The D-Mart employee failed to provide a satisfactory reply. The only thing he constantly repeated was that the company does not discriminate and treats all religions with equality. The activists warned him that a repetition of such incidents will not be tolerated and they would approach the police if such an incident repeats.

Brands and companies have displayed their blatant Hinduphobia on more than one occasion. Recently, Bharat Matrimony and Swiggy mocked and degraded the festival of Holi. We have witnessed the hypocrisy and one-sided secularism of Tanishq.

Only festivals as well as the customs of Hindus are targeted by the companies since the community tolerates such blatant Hinduphobia. It is high time society stand up to such acts as we witnessed in the case of D-Mart. The message that one-sided secularism and mocking of Hindu customs are not acceptable has to be sent out loud and clear.