MTV India is seeking justice for biryani!! The leading youth and music channel, owned by Viacom18, has begun a petition on change.org to rally people to get an emoticon for biryani, a 'privilege' that dishes like pizza, taco or burger currently enjoy.

The petition, which was filed last week, has garnered more than 1,550 signatures and counting. #biryaniemoticon has also gained traction on social media sites. The youth brand also organised a march for the cause in Delhi on Monday which saw the participation of about 600 students.

In the tongue-in-cheek petition, MTV India called out for 'justice for biryani', stating, “To all biryani lovers across the globe, I am biryani. And I have been wronged.”

Counting biryani’s accomplishments, it adds that there are 43 orders for the dish per minute and that it gets nearly 2,000 online orders a day. But while there is a stamp in honour of the Hyderabad Biryani released by the Department of Post in 2017,  there is no emoticon to represent the much loved dish.

“I am biryani, the country’s greatest emotion, but unfortunately not an emoticon. It’s up to you to change that! Fight for me, fight for your love. Sign the petition and help me become an emoticon !,” the petition states.

MTV India also said that for every ten signatures it garners, it will feed one child through its NGO partner Robinhood Army. The youth and music channel is seeking more than 15,000 signatures to be able to make a case for the biryani emoticon with the Unicode Consortium.

The Unicode Consortium, is the non-profit organisation, that is responsible for approving new emojis.

Navin Shenoy, Marketing Head, Youth, Music, and English Entertainment, Viacom18 said, “MTV is all about the universe of the young and we’ve always believed in creating campaigns that reflect the psyche of the youth and strike a chord with their emotions. The initiative to make Biryani an emoticon is an effort to connect with the Biryani lovers and at the same time, tap into the millennial glossary. By now, we have had enough of emoticons on western food like fries, burgers, tacos and pizza. It’s high time we have one for a dish that is truly savored by Indians. The MTV Biryani Emoticon campaign is a leap ahead in building our connect with the youth.”

The campaign has been created and conceptualized by independent digital agency, Tonic Worldwide for MTV India.

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