Ramdev slams MNCs for HUL's controversial tea ad

Patanjali Ayurved founder Baba Ramdev has slammed multinational corporations after an advertisement from FMCG major Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) allegedly ridiculed Indian culture.

Hitting out at the company on Twitter on Friday, the yoga guru-turned-entrepreneur also called for a boycott of HUL products.

"What is the contribution of MNCs to India's economic and cultural development?" Ramdev asked.

"What is the stature (aukaat) of these MNCs to be making unsavoury comments on India's glorious cultural heritage? Is India, for them, merely a market to be plundered?" he said in a tweet in Hindi which had the #BoycottHindustanUnilever #BoycottHULproducts tags.

The HUL advertisement for the "Red Label" brand depicted a man abandoning his father at the Kumbh Mela. But the man realised his mistake after seeing a father caring for his young son and returned to meet his father who was waiting with two cups of tea.

The ad was criticised heavily on social media, but HUL in a tweet said that the "@RedLabelChai encourages us to hold the hands of those who made us who we are."

--IANS

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