NEW DELHI: ‘Kali Ma' a beer launched by an American company has begun fizzing even before being sold in India. The Indian Parliament on Wednesday heard an animated discussion by its parliamentarians who now want the government ask the United States Ambassador to apologize for using the name of a Hindu goddess ‘Kali Ma' or ‘Mother Kali' for the beverage. The issue was first raised by right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party member Ravi Shankar Prasad, who lampooned the Portland-based Burnside Brewing for hurting sentiments of Indians by naming its beer after the fiery Indian female deity. That the company hopes to cash in on the popularity of the goddess to market its beer in India is evident in its ad which says: ‘Come worship the black one Kali as the ultimate reality or Brahman' … and bears a picture of the goddess. Prasad was furious over the ad in Parliament and asked that India take the issue up with the United States. He also demanded that the US Ambassador be summoned and asked to say sorry for it. India's Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Rajeev Shukla, intervened when the chorus against the beer named after the revered goddess grew louder in Parliament. He promised to take up the matter with the External Affairs Ministry. In India, religious sentiments run high and any effort to use religious symbols and titles to market products often lead to controversies. Kali is the goddess of enlightenment or liberation and is both revered and feared by Hindus and is often shown with an outstretched tongue, a bloodied scimitar and a string of human heads dangling across her neck.
