Author Yann Meridex on Tuesday sought the replacement of Hindu Swastika with the Nazi Hakenkreuz or the hooked cross from the list of hate symbols listed by Twitter. Meridex’s request came on a tweet posted by Twitter owner Elon Musk, who had recently shared the latest rules of the microblogging platform.
Asking for changing the Swastika symbol with the Hakenkreuz, Meredex said its inclusion smacked off Hinduphobia and that the Hindu Swastika has nothing to with Nazism.
“Could your team replace the word Swastika, which is a Hindu symbol, with Hakenkreuz, which was the real name of the Nazi hooked cross used by Hitler in Mein Kampf before a Hinduphobic translation was made?” Meredex tweeted.
Could your team replace the word Swastika, which is a Hindu symbol, with Hakenkreuz, which was the real name of the Nazi hooked cross used by Hitler in Mein Kampf before a Hinduphobic translation was made ?
— Yann Meridex 🌿🌄 (@YannMeridex) November 7, 2022
Hindu Swastika has nothing to do with Nazism.https://t.co/tmtzBRr096 pic.twitter.com/3KpzfvdRpy
Meredex also shared a picture of Twitter’s rules on hateful imagery. It lists “Nazi Swastika” under symbols historically associated with the hate group.
A Hindu interest group based out of the United States, the Hindu American Foundation, also requested Twitter to change its rules to delink the Hindu Swastika with the hateful Nazi Hakenkreuz.
The Hindu group also asked Twitter about its rules that included “caste” as one of the grounds for reporting the “dehumanisation of a group of people” and questioned the company on the definition of “caste” and how its implementation will be free of promoting stereotypes that is against its avowed policies.
2) While we welcome @Twitter policy to ban “dehumanization of a group of people” based on religion, as #Hinduphobia & anti-Hindu hate are endemic here, we wonder how you will define & implement “caste” without instituting stereotypes that violate your own stated policies. pic.twitter.com/HC4fo6mreT
— Hindu American Foundation (@HinduAmerican) November 8, 2022
“While we welcome @Twitter policy to ban “dehumanization of a group of people” based on religion, as #Hinduphobia & anti-Hindu hate are endemic here, we wonder how you will define & implement “caste” without instituting stereotypes that violate your own stated policies,” the Hindu American Foundation tweeted.
It is worth noting that this is not the first time that an organisation has used a Hindu Swastika to represent the Nazi Hakenkreuz. For decades, the Hindu symbol has been maligned and characterised as a sign associated with the murderous Nazi ideology. Hinduphobic organisations and left-wing ‘intellectuals’ have used equated the two to denigrate Hindus and paint those who use the symbol as proponents of the Nazi ideology.
However, there is a huge difference between the two symbols, which they have ridiculously considered as one and the same, thereby not only hurting Hindu feelings but also displaying their innate Hinduphobia.
When translated from its Sanskrit root, Swatika comprises of ‘su’ meaning ”good” and ‘asti’ meaning ”to be”. In other words, well-being. It dates back some 6,000 years to rock and cave paintings. Scholars generally agree it originated in India.
It has also meant a symbol of good luck, prosperity and all things auspicious for other ancient cultures, including the Vikings and Greeks, besides Hindus, Buddhists and Jains.
A religious symbol for Hindus, the Swastika was first mentioned in the Vedas. It symbolises many things like Surya (the sun) and Brahma, the creator. It is seen as a power symbol and is also the emblem of Ganesha, the god of good luck. In both Hinduism and Jainism, the Swastika is used to mark the opening pages of account books, doors and thresholds.
In fact, it is found that the Swastika was also used in Ancient Greece and can be found in the remains of the ancient city of Troy, which existed 4,000 years ago. The ancient Druids and the Celts also used the symbol. It was used by Nordic tribes and even early Christians used the Swastika as one of their symbols, including the Teutonic Knights, a German medieval military order, which became a purely religious Catholic Order.
Furthermore, the American Jewish Committee, one of the country’s oldest Jewish advocacy organizations, released a leaflet clarifying the distinction between the Swastika used for millennia by Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist cultures and the deformed
