18 January 2006
Hindu groups are campaigning against a German effort to ban the swastika across the European Union (EU). Hindus from various European countries have send protests to national governments and the EU over the German move, announced last week. Germany took over the EU's presidency this month and seeks to ban the display of Nazi symbols, as well as Holocaust denial, in all 27 EU member states. “The swastika has been around for 5,000 years as a symbol of peace. This is exactly the opposite of how it was used by Hitler,” Ramesh Kallidai of the Hindu Forum of Britain told the "Reuters" news agency, adding that “It is almost like saying that the Ku Klux Klan used burning crosses to terrorize black men, so therefore let us ban the cross. How does that sound to you?” In Hindu tradition, the swastika is a sacred symbol of peace. The German proposal comes amid concerns over the rise of neo-Nazi groups in European countries, several of which already punish the public display of Nazi symbols.
