Fox News’ Glenn Beck now says he “did not mean to offend anybody” about the remarks he made about India’s river Ganges (considered holy by Hindus) in his show on December nine, which Hindus found denigrating.

Upset Hindus think that it is a half-hearted, curt, and weak apology as compared the highly ridiculing remarks he made about sacred Ganges (Ganga). There appears to be no formal statement or press release from Fox News channel or its parent News Corporation. Beck reportedly said in this minimal statement yesterday: “By the way, the name of the river in India, Ganges, I said last week that it sounded like a disease, did not mean to offend anybody.”

Beck, talking about India in December nine segment titled “This is the best America has to offer?” of his opinion show “The One Thing” on Fox News channel, said: “One big river they have there, that sounds like a disease. Come on it does. I mean if somebody said, I am sorry, you have a really bad case of Ganges.”

Bhavna Shinde of Forum for Hindu Awakening said that they would continue to pursue their formal complaint to Federal Communications Commission, and communiqués to National Cable and Telecommunications Association, and Embassy of India in Washington DC, urging action against Fox News and News Corporation regarding this denigration issue.

Meanwhile, acclaimed Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that community was very upset with denigrating remarks about Ganges, as it was sacred to one billion Hindus world over and they revered it.

Rajan Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, pointed out that Fox News and News Corporation should have the courage to come up with a formal statement on this matter and put in policies and procedures in place, assuring the hurt community that this kind of denigration would not happen in the future. As television was a forceful medium, they should be more sensitive when handling faith related subjects, Zed added.

It is believed that bath in the sacred Ganges purifies one of all sin, and its water if taken daily confers immortality. It finds mention in Rig-Veda; the oldest scripture of the world still in common use, dated from around 1,500 BCE. Kumbh Mela, starting next month, will see an expected influx of about 100 million people from world over coming to take a dip in Ganges.

News Corporation is a diversified global media company with operations in film, television, cable, satellite broadcast, integrated marketing, newspapers and information services, book publishing, etc., and assets of about USD 55 billion. Fox News is reportedly available to about 102 million households.

-Sampurn Media