Hairstylist Jawed Habib apologises for ad featuring Goddess Durga, calls it a 'blunder'

Celebrity hairstylist Jawed Habib has issued an apology after he courted controversy  over a newspaper advertisement showing dieties in his salon. The advertisement shows Goddess Durga, along with Kartik, Lakshmi, Saraswati and Ganesh relaxing in his salon.

The ad, with its tagline "Gods too visit JH salon," invited sharp criticism from social media users. Twitteratti slammed the hair stylist for using the photos of Hindu gods to promote his salons. The photos of the gods putting on make-up evoked angry reactions.

Following the backlash, Habib, known for his salons and hairline products, took to Twitter with his apology. He posted a video apologising to everyone for hurting religious sentiments. He also said that one of the partners of the hairline franchise published the ad without his permission.

"Dear all, we respect your sentiments and we apologize sincerely. It was not to hurt you at all," he later tweeted.

"This is our culture and we did so many good things in the past. I know it was a blunder, (a) mistake but we deserve respect also. People are writing unethical words. Do we deserve this? Seems like 30 years of hard work has just gone," Habib told IANS.

"It happened by the master franchisee of West Bengal. He is a Hindu and I am not sure what changed his mind. But he did a mistake and since he is my partner, I have taken the responsibility and came out saying sorry," he explained.

"I am an Indian and I have been working on hair education in this country for 30 years. My religion is only hair education. I don't think such mistakes should happen because I am a part of India and we have sentiments."

Meanwhile, lawyer Vinay Pandey on Wednesday filed a case against Habib for misusing the photos of Hindu deities. Pandey moved an application in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate in Maharajganj, Uttar Pradesh.

Now, the court has set September 11 for hearing the petition.