LONDON, ENGLAND, March 04, 2002: Hindu leaders in Britain are strongly protesting a new portrait that depicts football (soccer) captain David Beckham, his pop singer wife Victoria Spice and their son as Hindu Gods. Two Sikh sisters from north England drew the portrait as part of celebrations to mark the Commonwealth Games here to commemorate 50 years of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth. The portrait has evoked instant criticism. “We will be making a strong protest against this,” the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s British unit general secretary Kishore Ruparelia told Indo-Asian News Service. He said, “It is just some sort of cheap action.” The artist sisters insist the painting is not insulting. “I think it would only have been viewed as blasphemous if we were saying they were gods to be adored,” Amrit Singh, one of the sisters said.
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