Hyderabad’s famous confectionery, Karachi Bakery, has put up the Indian Tricolour on its signage in some of its outlets in the city after the brand was targeted by protestors in Visakhapatnam yesterday in view of the escalation of tension between India and Pakistan, post Pahalgam terror attack.
This is not the first time the brand that was established by Khanchand Ramnani in 1953 after he migrated to India following Partition has been targeted. Additional police personnel were deployed by Hyderabad Police around its stores to avoid any untoward incident.
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Tricolours were pasted on the signage of the Karachi Bakery at its Begumpet store to emphasise its Indianness after its store at Visakhapatnam was attacked by a group of men. There were also additional police personnel at the storefront. However, Karachi Bakery has never faced any vandalism in Hyderabad so far.
An organisation called Jana Jagarana Samiti staged a protest at the store of Karachi Bakery at Venkojipalem in Visakhapatnam yesterday, demanding that the bakery change its name and even urged the Centre to file a sedition case against the owners.
In 2019, in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack, the bakery was vandalised in Indiranagar of Bengaluru. Although the owners had time and again iterated that the founder, Khanchand Ramnani, had named the small bakery he had begun in Moazzam Jahi Market in Hyderabad after the city he had left behind, every time there is an escalation of tension, it comes under attack.
In the past, the bakery owners were forced to cover up their brand name and distribute pamphlets to reinforce their “Indianness” and iterate that it is an “Indian” brand, set up by an Indian. Even today, a section of the netizens demanded that the bakery change its name since it was named after a city in Pakistan. Others, however, defended it, pointing out that it was a business owned by a Sindhi family who were forced to migrate due to Partition and should not face such backlash. The iconic bakery known for its fruit biscuits, Dilkhush, and plum cakes, is part of Hyderabad’s heritage.
