A Twitter war broke out over Urdu writing on a savoury package after a video went viral on the micro-blogging site. In the video, a news reporter can be seen questioning a store manager of a Haldiram outlet about the description and the ingredients of the savoury mixture being written in Urdu on the packaging. The reporter pushes a microphone in front of the manager's face as her cameraman records her forced interview. She asks the manager, who is also a woman, what Haldiram's is trying to hide by printing the description of the savoury mixture in Urdu.
As the reporter continues to aggressively push the microphone in front of the manager's face and question her, the manager says that the food inside the packet is not a health hazard. She then asks the reporter to leave the store. “If you want to have this you can have it, if you don’t want to have it, you can just keep this here and go from my outlet,” she says.
A crowd of people and a police officer can be seen witnessing the confrontation in the video. The snack in question is called 'Falhari Mixture' in new packaging.
The description at the back of the savoury is written in Urdu while the main text on the front is in English. It also clearly displays the green vegetarian symbol.
Halidram's Falhari Mixture contains a sweet mingle of peanuts and potatoes with mild spices. It is one of the popular snacks at Haldiram's that are consumed by people who are fasting during the ongoing nine-day Hindu festival of Navratri.
The episode drew widespread comments and condemnation on social media with people arguing for and against the “issue.” Some suggested that the writing on the packet was in Arabic and it was there because Haldiram products are widely exported to the Middle East.
However, others supplied examples of how everything, from Indian Railways signages to currency notes, have Urdu text on them. A Twitter user wrote,” Haldiram using URDU print on its packet of Falhari Mixture – are they serving Halal Food to “H”?”. While another tweet reads,” This is Bikaji bhujia… In place of Hindi…. Urdu language is written…. How much % of Indian know Urdu….. Hindi is our national language…. They why Urdu is written.”