(Asian independent) Upset Hindus are urging Association of Spanish Home Brewers (ACCE) to apologize and immediately withdraw poster carrying image of Hindu deity Lord Ganesh to promote its “IPA Day 2020” event to be held in Burgos (Spain) on September 19; calling it highly inappropriate.
Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that inappropriate usage of sacred Hindu symbols or deities or concepts or icons for commercial or other agenda was not okay as it hurt the devotees.
Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, indicated that Lord Ganesh was highly revered in Hinduism and he was meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not to be used in a re-imagined version for pushing a beer event. Moreover, linking a deity with an alcoholic beverage was very insensitive, Zed added.
Brewer associations should not be in the business of religious appropriation, sacrilege, and ridiculing entire communities. It was deeply disrespectful of divine Hindu deity to be displayed on a poster promoting beer event with hops covering his head, beer mixing stirrer paddle in one hand and Erlenmyer flask presumably carrying yeast starter in another hand; Rajan Zed emphasized.
Hinduism was the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about 1.1 billion adherents and a rich philosophical thought and it should not be taken frivolously. Symbols of any faith, larger or smaller, should not be mishandled, Zed noted.
In Hinduism, Lord Ganesh is worshipped as god of wisdom and remover of obstacles and is invoked before the beginning of any major undertaking.
Non-profit ACCE (Asociación de Cerveceros Caseros Españoles), founded in 2009 and headquartered in La Palma (Murcia, Spain), is Spain’s national association of brewers united by “love of making beer at home”.
ACCE has reportedly proposed several beer related activities and contests at this “India Pale Ale Day 2020”, including a contest of selfie photographs.