Washington:
Indian-Americans are up in arms against popular US television personality Glenn Beck for his alleged derogatory remarks about India, its doctors and river Ganges, demanding an immediate apology from him for his "appalling" behaviour.
The powerful American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) said it is "disappointed" by Fox News personality Beck's comment during one of his recent television shows and is "offended" by his "stereotypical" references to India, diseases and Ganges.
Talking about India in his opinion show 'The One Thing' on Fox News channel on December nine, Beck 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."
Beck also allegedly made several disparaging remarks about India's medical education and its physicians while interviewing Karlyn Zimbelman, an American who underwent a successful hip replacement surgery in India recently.
"Having carefully read the transcript of Mr Beck's comments, we are disappointed by his careless reference to the quality of medical schools in India," AAPI President Vinod K Shah said in a statement today.
The US-India Political Action Committee (USINPAC) also condemned the remarks by Beck about India, its religious heritage and Indian physicians. It asked him to "apologise to the nearly three million Indian-Americans for this appalling behaviour immediately."