Lord Ganesha mocked in Australian lamb meat ad, India lodges complaint

An advertisement released by the Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) on Monday has not gone down well with the Indian community triggering protests from various quarters.

The video advertisement released by MLA recently shows Lord Ganesha, along with other religious figures, ‘toasting lamb’ which has been termed as offensive and hurting the religious sentiments of the Indian community.

India, through its high commission in Canberra has lodged an official diplomatic complaint with Australia about the advertisement against what has been described as Lord Ganesha and other divinities promoting Australian lamb meat.

The Indian high commission claimed that the advertisement was "offensive" and hurt the religious sentiments of the Indian community. 

"The consulate general of India in Sydney has taken up the matter directly with Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) and urged them to withdraw the advertisement," the high commission said in a statement.

The advertisement, which is MLA’s latest campaign for lamb, features a number of religious figures including Jesus, Buddha, Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard and Greek Goddess Aphrodite sitting around a lamb lunch.

Hindu Council of Australia has called on MLA to voluntarily take the advertisement off air.

“We strongly urge MLA to withdraw the offensive advertisement immediately and extend an unconditional apology to not only the Hindu-Australian community but to members of all religious groups that are hurt by this nonsensical advertisement,” the Hindu Council of Australia said in a statement.