Tel Aviv — Inappropriate pictures of Mahatma Gandhi on Israeli liquor bottles have caused controversy, asking Prime Ministers of India and Israel to instruct the manufacturer to remove the images immediately.
An Israeli-based company Maka Brewery used the deriding pictures of Mahatma Gandhi on its liquor bottles illustrated by an artist Amit Shimoni of another Israeli company Shimoni-Illustration Inc based in Tel Aviv. Gandhi was shown wearing a T-shirt, an overcoat and shades, making him look like a hippie.
Mahatma Gandhi who is known as “Father of Nation” fought British to get India achieve independence in 1947, such an illustration have angered the Indian nationalists.
Chaiman of Mahatma Gandhi National Foundation Eby J Jos wrote a letter to both the prime ministers Benjamin Netanyahu and Narender Modi on Sunday stating that Maka Brewery in the Tefen Industrial Zone (Central Galilee) had made liquor bottles depicting historical leaders, reported United News of India.
Jos also demanded immediate steps to remove Gandhi’s derogatory images from liquor bottles and website.
Mahatma Gandhi was strict against the consumption of alcohol. The sale and consumption of alcohol is halted every year on 2nd October – the birthday of Gandhi – to pay tribute to his struggle and ideology. To use such deriding pictures of Gandhi on liquor bottles shows Israelis’ attitude towards India’s founding father.
