Israel-based brewery apologises for using Mahatama Gandhi's picture on liquor bottles

A brewery in Israel has apologised for having used a picture of Mahatma Gandhi on liquor bottles, and said their intention was to honour him. It said the company has stopped the production of the bottles.

Tel Aviv: An Israel-based brewery has apologised for having used a picture of Mahatma Gandhi on liquor bottles, according to Muanpuii Saiawi, Counsellor, Indian Embassy in Israel.

He said the company has also stopped the production of the bottles.

"The brewery has apologised for the offence caused to Indians while informing that their intention had been to honour him. The bottles are no longer being produced," Saiawi said.

The matter came to light after Eby J Jos, Chairman of Mahatma Gandhi National Foundation, wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that Maka Brewery in the Tefen Industrial Zone (Central Galilee) had depicted pictures of historical leaders on liquor bottles.

He had urged them to take immediate steps to remove Gandhi's derogatory image since it made a "mockery" of the leader.

"The act of labelling the liquor bottle [with] his name and image were downright despicable and deplorable, to say the least," Jose said in the June 29 letter, adding that the manufacturer was engaged in "improper conduct" that was "undemocratic, unethical and immoral".

Back home, Aam Admi Party MP Sanjay Singh had raised the issue in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.