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Gandhi-bot beer: US brewery to rebrand ale after outcry over use of Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi's name and image

An Indian lawyer had filed a petition describing the beer's label as 'condemnable'

Andrew Buncombe

Friday 23 January 2015 21:16 GMT

Gandhi-bot beer is an India pale ale

A US brewery that sparked anger in India by naming one of its beers after independence hero Mahatma Gandhi has said it is going to rebrand the brew.

The New England Brewing Company’s Gandhi-Bot India pale ale has a cartoon image depicting a robot version of the late Indian leader, who was a strict vegetarian and shunned alcohol. The brewery apologised earlier this month after a lawyer in southern India filed lawsuit describing the label as “condemnable”.

In a statement, the Connecticut-based brewery said it decided to rebrand the beer following meetings with Indian-American business owners, temple leaders and state officials, including state Representative Prasad Srinivasan, said the Associated Press. The statement was posted on Mr Srinivasan’s website.

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“After careful consideration we feel that renaming Gandhi-Bot is the right move,” the brewery said in the statement. “Taking these steps will allow us to express our support for the Indian-American community while also limiting any economic losses.”

Mr Srinivasan, who is originally from India, said he was glad the brewery heard the concerns of the Indian-American community.

“Our sensitivity on this important issue has been addressed and I am looking forward to the early release of their renamed and rebranded product,” he said. It is unclear what the beer will now be called. The company said in a statement that the beer itself will remain the same.

The Gandhi-Bot beer, which had been distributed for about five years, was promoted on the brewery’s website as fully vegetarian and “an ideal aid for self-purification and the seeking of truth and love”.

The company was pushed into action earlier this month following the publicity created by a lawyer who filed a petition before the XI Metropolitan Magistrate in the Indian city of Hyderabad. The petition claimed the use of Gandhi’s image is an offence under the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971.

Follow Andrew Buncombe on Twitter @AndrewBuncombe.

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