Hindus hail Aussie brewery for removing deities’ images from beer bottles

MELBOURNE: Hindus worldwide, perturbed over the Australian made “Brookvale Union” brewery’s ginger beer carrying juxtaposed images of Hindu deities Ganesh and Lakshmi, have thanked the company for apologising and focusing on redesigning the labels.

Hindu leader Rajan Zed who led the protest and described the deities’ images on a beer bottle as “highly inappropriate”, has commended the brewery for having an understanding for the hurt feelings of the Hindu community and for showing respect by taking quick action in apologising and announcing its redesign

It was a step in the right direction, Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, noted in a statement in Nevada, U.S. on Friday.

In a statement published in “Beer & Brewer” magazine from Sydney, the brewery said: “We have subsequently apologised for any distress caused and begun the process of removing the images from the website.

“We’re lovers, not fighters, we want to make it right. We are now focused on redesigning the Ginger Beer which hopefully all can be happy with.”

The brewery has asked “graphic designers, artists and even doodlers” to come up with a better design by Nov 24. — BERNAMA