An Israeli company named Malka Beer used a cartoon image of Mahatma Gandhi in a tie- dye shirt on the bottles to commemorate the 71st Independence Day if Israel. Rajya Sabha members voiced their disapproval and prompted Vice President Venkiah Naidu to direct External Affairs Minister S.Jaishankar to deal with the issue.
After the Minister did the needful, the company viz Malka Beer expressed it’s heartfelt apologies for hurting the sentiments of the people of India. The brand manager of the company Gilad Dror said that the company had stopped production of the brand and were making efforts to withdraw the product from the market. The face of Mahatma Gandhi was the only non Israeli face on the limited edition bottles. It had the faces of three former Israeli Prime Ministers – David Ben Gurion, Golda Meir and the Father of Zionism, Theodore Herd.
