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Israeli beer featuring hipster Gandhi causes uproar in India

An Israeli brewery caused outrage in India over an image of Gandhi that appeared in a limited-edition series.

By David Isaac, World Israel News 

India is angry about an Israeli beer. Not the beer itself but what’s on it. Israel’s Malka brewery put an image of Mahatma Gandhi on a limited-edition bottle. He is wearing sunglasses, a tie-dye shirt and white jacket.

Indians aren’t upset about the hipster version of their most famous leader, illustrated by artist Amit Shimoni, who is known for drawing famous people and politicians in such guise. They’re angry that Gandhi appears on a product containing alcohol at all. Gandhi was a staunch opponent of alcoholic beverages.

The issue has even reached India’s parliament. Israel’s Hayom reports that one parliamentarian raised the matter of “the insulting and hurtful use of the picture of the Father of the Nation on a bottle of alcohol.”

The parliamentarian demanded that the image be removed by the brewery.

The Mahatma Gandhi National Foundation also criticized the image, calling it a “mockery” of the great leader. The foundation sent a complaint to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“The act of labeling the liquor bottle [with] his name and image was downright despicable and deplorable, to say the least,” the foundation’s head Eby J. Jose wrote to Netanyahu. He described the beermaker as engaging in “improper conduct” that was“undemocratic, unethical and immoral.”

Jose said he became aware of the bottle when he saw it in an online video posted by an Indian man working in Israel.

“I was shocked to see him at the bar counter, holding a beer bottle carrying a distorted image of the Father of the Nation,” Jose told Gulf Today, a U.A.E.-based paper.

Malka brewery issued an apology, saying it regretted putting Gandhi’s image on its bottles and was working to remove existing bottles from the market.

“Malka Beer offers its heartfelt apologies to the people and the Government of India for hurting their sentiments,” Gilad Dror, the Brand Manager of the company, said in a statement.

Ironically, the brewery had intended the image to be a mark of honor.

Gandhi was the only non-Jewish leader to appear on a series that included images of famous figures, among them Israeli prime ministers David Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir and Menachem Begin. Theodor Herzl, the father of Zionism, also appeared as part of the limited-edition bottles.