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Canadian MP from Nepean Chandra Arya urged Canadians and the Canadian government to not mistake the Swastika for the Nazi symbol for Hakenkreuz. (Image: News18 File)
Chandra Arya said that the equating of Swastika and Hakenkreuz restricts religious rights of Hindus living in North America.
Indian-origin Canadian member of the parliament Chandra Arya told Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and leader of opposition Pierre Poilievre that Hindus feel restricted while using the ‘swastika’ symbol because it is wrongly mistaken as the Nazi Hakenkreuz.
“I again call on Justin Trudeau and Pierre Poilievre and everyone not to call the Nazi symbol of hatred Hakenkreuz as Swastika,” Chandra Arya said in a post on social media site X.
Arya, who represents the constituency of Nepean in the House of Commons of Canada, reiterated his message from last year where he highlighted the issues faced by Hindus living in Canada when the hakenkreuz and swastika were compared.
“Please stop calling the Nazi symbol of hatred as Swastika. We support the ban of the Nazi symbol of hatred Hakenkreuz or the hooked cross. But calling it Swastika is to deny us Hindu-Canadians our religious right and freedom to use our sacred symbol Swastika in our daily life,” Arya told in his post, addressed to Canadian speaker of the House of Commons Greg Fergus.
“On behalf of over one million Canadians of several religious faiths and in particular Hindu-Canadians and as a Hindu-Canadian myself, I call upon members of this house and all Canadians to distinguish between the Hindu religious sacred symbol Swastika and the Nazi symbol of hatred called Hakenkreuz in German or the hooked cross in English,” Arya said.
Arya’s plea last year was welcomed by Hindu groups in North America who say that the swastika, that symbolises auspicious beginnings and good luck, has been mistaken for the hakenkreuz and has led to wrong assumptions about Hinduism and its believers.
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