Tag: Swastika
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HinduPACT Demands PM Trudeau Respect Canadians’ Right to Dissent, Must Refrain from Comparing Nazi Hakenkreuz to Peaceful Swastika to Prevent Targeting of Hindus
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 15, 2022
WASHINGTON, D.C – Hindu Policy Research and Advocacy Collective (HinduPACT) stands with the people of Canada during these trying times and urges Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to respect the rights of the Canadian people to peacefully protest. The right to peaceful protest is fundamental in any democracy and the promulgation of an Emergency Order to quell the voices of dissent sets, for the first time, a tragic precedent for Canada.
HinduPACT Executive Director Utsav Chakrabarti said,
“I would be remiss if I didn’t start by recognizing the news coming out of Canada about the protests and the Draconian measures being taken to counter them. The situation is concerning, and we are all very worried about our family and friends.”
HinduPACT also urges Prime Minister Trudeau and New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Jagmeet Singh not to conflate the ‘Swastika’, an ancient and auspicious symbol for Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and many indigenous communities around the world, with the ‘Hakenkreuz’, a 20th century Nazi symbol of hate. Both Trudeau and Jagmeet Singh have made statements in the recent past, accusing protesters of “waving Swastikas”.
We believe this misrepresentation will lead to hate crimes against Hindus and Sikhs. In the past month alone, six Hindu temples were vandalized and looted in Canada. A prominent member of the Canadian Hindu community and a recipient of the Order of Canada, Aditya Jha while speaking to HinduPACT said,
“I appreciate the gravitas of Indian leadership, that they have stayed away from commenting on protests by truckers in Canada. In contrast, PM Justin Trudeau has behaved immaturely by constantly commenting on protests in India, with very little knowledge and understanding”.
Speaking about NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, Jha added:
“He is openly supportive of Khalistani extremists, makes alliances with radical Islamists, and is a politician who wants to be in India, but accidentally ended up in Canada. He doesn’t know much about the Sikh Panth either. But the problem today is that politics has become so shallow that any well-spoken minority is given a platform as long as they can speak good English.”
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Tell State Legislators : Auspicious Swastika is NOT a Symbol of Hate
New Jersey is the latest state to attempt to designate Swastika as a hate symbol with NJ Bill AB 174. While this bill tries to distinguish the Nazi Hakenkreuz from the Swastika, any vilification of auspicious word Swastika is denigrating to the followers of the dharmic community.
This is the third attempt in past few months, and second in two weeks to designate Swastika as a hate symbol through a legislation.
We have launched a petition, where we are seeking your “general consent” – whereby we will use the same petition with and the signatories every time a state legislation against Swastika comes up. Please sign the petition by clicking the link here:
Click Here to Sign a Petition Against Swastika as a Hate Symbol State Legislations
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Original Nazi Resolution Designating Hakenkreuz as Symbol of Hate
The Original Nazi Resolution on Hakenkreuz
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AHAD Demands that New York State Senate include the Nazi Hakenkreuz and NOT the sacred Swastika in New York school curriculum
July 21, 2020
American Hindus Against Defamation (AHAD) an initiative of World Hindu Council of America (VHPA), has issued the following statement on NY State Senate Bill SS 6648:
NY State Senate Bill SS 06648 sponsored by Senator Todd Kaminsky (D) 9TH SENATE DISTRICT and co-sponsored by Senators Joseph Addabbo Jr (D) 15TH SENATE DISTRICT, Alessandra Biaggi (D, WF) 34TH SENATE DISTRICT, John Brooks (D) 8TH SENATE DISTRICT, and David Carlucci (D) 38TH SENATE DISTRICT has a stated purpose to require that the New York school children be educated regarding the meaning of swastikas and nooses as symbols of hatred and intolerance.
Ajay Shah, Convenor of American Hindus Against Defamation (AHAD), an initiative of World Hindu Council of America (VHPA) said that,
“the proposed NY State Sentate Bill SS 06648 requiring instruction regarding symbols of hate to be incorporated into the curricula for grades six through twelve perpetuate ignorance and promotes HinduPhobia in schools across New York state. AHAD pledges to work with other Hindu organizations to ensure that this legislation is modified to remove the references to Swastika.”
American Jewish Committee (AJC) working with the VHPA and other Hindu organizations in Washington, DC has produced a brochure titled, “Understanding Swastika, Use and Abuse of a sacred symbol.” The AJC brochure quotes, the following from Declaration of the Second Hindu-Jewish Leadership Summit, held in February 2008, Jerusalem,
“The Svastika is an ancient and greatly auspicious symbol of the Hindu tradition. It is inscribed on Hindu temples, ritual altars, entrances, and even account books. A distorted version of this sacred symbol was misappropriated by the Third Reich in Germany, and abused as an emblem under which heinous crimes were perpetrated against humanity, particularly the Jewish people. The participants recognize that this symbol is, and has been sacred to Hindus for millennia, long before its misappropriation.” Shah said, “We believe that this brochure in itself is sufficient to remove Swastika from the purported purpose of this legislation.”
Swastika is considered one of the most sacred symbols by religious traditions that evolved in India (dharmic traditions), including Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh faiths. The history of the Swastika is over 10,000 years old. It has appeared in several civilizations all throughout the world. From Greece and Rome to the Druids and Celts. Today, the Swastika is an integral part of many cultures including India and East Asian cultures that adhere to Buddhism. It has regularly been donned on Hindu homes, businesses, temples, and other objects. Hindu families gather round to place it in front of their homes for good luck and protection.
Unfortunately, 10,000 years of a symbol of wellbeing was desecrated by the monstrous regime of Nazi Germany, in the first half of the 20th century. Hitler perverted a symbol of goodness to fuel his agenda of hate. Utsav Chakrabarty, World Hindu Council of America Director of Advocacy and Awareness said,
“We acknowledge the horrid way the swastika has been misused and misinterpreted. Even though Hitler never used the word “Swastika”, and instead used the same symbol, calling it Hakenkreuz, for the past 70 years, the Swastika continues to remain a vilified and maligned symbol. This must be corrected. Instead of censoring the symbol, we must celebrate the positive history of it. We must reclaim it from Hitler and the followers of his hateful ideology. This wrong must be righted.”
To label the Swastika as a symbol of hate would be a grave insult to 1.8 billion Hindus and Buddhists around the world. It would be a grave insult to over 300,000 Hindu New Yorkers who come from diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds, and contribute immensely to the community and economy. Today’s political climate demonstrates the importance of diversity and celebrating ones’ heritage. Maligning this ancient heritage would be a step backwards in promoting interfaith harmony and would lead to increase in hate crimes and Hinduphobia. AHAD demands that the meaning and significance of Swastika be included in the educational curriculum so that the hate crimes against Hindus are not perpetuated.
About AHAD
American Hindus Against Defamation (AHAD) is the first and the most prominent Hindu organization against defamation in the USA. An initiative of World Hindu Council of America (VHPA), AHAD has been actively monitoring mass media, products, public places etc. to ensure respectful and accurate representation of Hindu dharma, culture, images and icons. Active since 1997, hundreds of thousands of Hindus have participated in various advocacy activities led by AHAD.
About World Hindu Council of America (VHPA)
World Hindu Council of America (VHPA) is the most prominent organization of Hindus in the USA. Founded in 1970, it has chapters across the country. VHPA runs educational programs for Hindu children and youth in addition to community service (Seva) activities, and initiatives such as Hindu Mandir Executives’ Conference (HMEC), Hindu Womens’ Network, American Hindus Against Defamation (AHAD), Hindu Policy Research and Advocacy Collective USA (HinduPACT).
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Swastika, NY Town Board Votes To Keep Its Name, Cites Use In Hindu, Buddhism
https://www.newsweek.com/swastika-ny-town-board-votes-keep-its-name-cites-use-hindu-buddhism-1533386
[This article from Newsweek was republished with AHAD comments]
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The board members of a small community in northern New York decided last week to keep the area’s controversial “Swastika” name after a visitor proposed a change earlier this summer.
Swastika is an unincorporated area within Black Brook, a small town located in Clinton County. Black Brook’s town supervisor, Jon Douglass, told North Country Public Radio (NCPR) that the board did not think changing the name was necessary because of the term’s meaning prior to its use in Nazi Germany.
The board discussed the name for about five minutes before voting unanimously to keep it, NCPR reported.
Douglass acknowledged that many in the U.S. think of the swastika in terms of its association with white supremacy, but he told NCPR, “I believe there are others that do not associate it with hate.” Douglass pointed to the Hindu and Buddhist religions, both of which have used a version of the swastika icon to represent spirituality. The symbol in Sanskrit that is used in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism means “well-being,” according to the BBC.
Swastika’s original settlers decided on the name in the 1800s, and those who lived there in the wake of World War II defended the name for its original meaning, Douglass told NCPR. “Some of the residents that were from that area actually fought in World War II and refused to change the name just because Hitler tried to tarnish the meaning of swastika,” he said.
The World Hindu Council of America (VHPA)’s American Hindus Against Defamation (AHAD) initiative has in recent months argued in favor of differentiating between the swastika used as a “sacred symbol” and the version used by Nazis, known as the Nazi Hakenkreuz. In July, the AHAD encouraged the New York Senate to make the distinction clear while considering a new piece of legislation, which proposed requiring “New York school children be educated regarding the meaning of swastikas and nooses as symbols of hatred and intolerance.”
The proposed legislation would “perpetuate ignorance and promote HinduPhobia in schools across New York state,” AHAD Convener Ajay Shah said in a statement.
