Please don’t conflate Hindu Swastika to Nazi Hakenkreuz: Indian origin MP Chandra Arya to Canadian parliament

Chandra Arya, an Indian origin member of the Canadian Parliament issued a speech calling upon the members of the house and all Canadians to distinguish between the Hindu religious sacred symbol Swastika and the Nazi symbol Hakenkreuz. He shared a video of the speech on Twitter. 

He said, “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.” 

“In the ancient Indian language of Sanskrit, Swastika means that which brings good luck and well-being,” he added. He reiterated that Swastika should not be equated with the German symbol of hatred Hakenkreuz. 

He went on to say, “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. Calling it Swastika is to deny us Hindu-Canadians our religious right and freedom to use our sacred symbol Swastika in our daily life.” Later on, he also issued a written statement on his speech in the parliament. 

Arya is an MP from the Nepean constituency of Ontario province. He was elected to represent the Nepean seat in the House of Commons in the 2015 Canadian federal election, and he was re-elected in the 2019 election. 

Image courtesy of (Image courtesy: acdemocracy.org)

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