We are living in a strange time, where we are witnessing ever-increasing incidents which are changing the national discourse on objections to Hijab, Halal meat, and Azaan. Amid all this brouhaha, a newer incident has come up, and this time it is involving Sudarshan TV and Haldiram.
Sudarshan News has raised another controversial issue related to the Hindus, as its Editor-in-Chief Suresh Chavhanke alleged that there is a criminally hatched “conspiracy” behind Haldiram’s writing the ingredients of one of its products (also consumed by people fasting during Navratri) in “Urdu” language.
Sudarshan channel’s reporter barged inside a Halidram outlet in Delhi-NCR and questioned the company representative on the use of the Urdu language and also accused them of “hiding something”.
Sudarshan TV channel reporter pointed out to a Haldiram employee after looking at a Falahari Mixture packaging, “Why is Urdu written on Falahari Mixture packaging? What are you hiding from the public?”
The TV reporter even asked, “Tell me what is written here, is there animal oil or beef oil in the product that you are hiding?” The reporter tried her best to get a response from the Haldiram Employee. However, she stuck to her standard response to the TV channel.
As per the video, the description at the back of the Namkeen is written in Arabic and is placed below as the translated version of the main text in English.
Few people on social media are praising Haldiram’s employee for not entertaining such an argument against the Sudarshan reporter’s questions. The employee straight away told her, “If you want to have this, you can have it, if you don’t wanna have it, please keep it packet here and just go from my property! Now you decide what to do?”
While another section of people are appreciating the genuine point raised by the Sudarshan channel and demand clarity on this matter from Haldiram.
The ‘Falhari Mixture’ – is one of the most in-demand ‘fasting’ mixtures’ consumed by Hindus during Navratri fasting. It is one of the popular snacks of the brand. The people who observe fast during the Navratri festival use it as a food item. It is a sweet and salty mix of dried fruits, peanuts, and potatoes with mild spices.
According to the standard practices of manufacturers, the description at the back of the packet is actually in Arabic, and caters to the company’s export requirements, as this particular mixture is exported to the Middle East. However, this is indeed a legit question why the same packaging is used for items to be sold in India?
In India isn’t it better to print descriptions and ingredient information in the Hindi language, which could be understood by most people. We certainly don’t understand the necessity to print this information in Arabic, the language most Indians don’t understand.
It is the right of a consumer to have the information printed in the language he or she understands. We also demand Haldiram come clean on this matter and ensure such mistakes are not repeated in the future.
