Seems 30 years of hard work has gone: Habib on Durga Puja ad row

Celebrity hair style Jawed Habib, who has apologised for hurting religious sentiments with a Durga Puja ad, says it was a "blunder" but feels the "unethical" words people are using to criticize it has taken away three decades of his hard work.

The controversy began with an ad of Jawed Habib's salon, showing Goddess Durga having a spa day. He was trolled on social media, but later apologised for the mistake, which he says was made by his master franchisee of West Bengal.

Meanwhile, a lawyer named Vinay Pandey filed a case in a Uttar Pradesh court on Wednesday against him for using images of Hindu gods and goddesses in the advertisement to promote his salons.

Habib, a veteran in the field of hair education, feels he deserves respect.

"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 in a telephonic conversation.

Explaining what went behind the ad, he said: "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."

"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," he added.

The UP court has fixed September 11 for hearing the case.