By Paul Majendie LONDON (Reuters) - Hindus have launched a campaign in Britain to "reclaim" the swastika from its Nazi past and reinstate the 5,000-year-old emblem as a symbol of good luck.
They were stung into action when European parliamentarians called for a Europe-wide ban on Nazi insignia after Britain's Prince Harry provoked international outrage by wearing a swastika armband and Nazi costume at a party. "What we have decided to do is to reclaim the swastika," said Ramesh Kallidai, secretary-general of the Hindu Forum representing 700,000 Hindus in multi-cultural Britain. He said of the Hindu religious symbol purloined by Adolf Hitler for his National Socialist Party: "It has been used for 5,000 years to promote life. It brings good luck and wards off evil." Ever sensitive to the concerns of millions of Jews who suffered the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust, he told Reuters: "For Hindus, the misuse of the swastika is as repulsive as it is to everyone else. "It's like saying the Ku Klux Klan is burning crosses so let's ban the use of crosses worldwide." Pictures beamed worldwide of Queen Elizabeth's grandson wearing the Nazi uniform at a costume party prompted deputies in the European parliament to call for a ban on Nazi insignia, an idea that the European Commission said was worth considering. "The Hindu Forum was inundated with calls over the proposed ban," said Kallidai. "If it came into force, that would mean if Hindus use the swastika for religious purposes as they have done for 5,000 years, they risk breaking the law." First came a media campaign to put their case. Then Hindus pressed parliament to debate the issue and lobbied deputies both in London and Strasbourg to support them. Next comes a major conference in London and public awareness workshops across Britain. "We have already spoken to the Board of Deputies of British Jews and want to have a dialogue with them. Everyone must understand that the swastika has nothing to do with hatred and is purely for worship." A spokesman for the Jewish Board told Reuters: "We respect the Hindu Forum's desire to take back the Swastika but our line of caution is that Neo-Nazis and racists continue to use the Swastika as a potent symbol of hatred." To the millions who suffered in World War Two, the swastika is a loathed emblem of hatred, racism and xenophobia. But to Hindus, it is a revered symbol, derived from the Sanskrit "svastika" and meaning "Good to be." "In Gujarat, when a baby has its first haircut, a swastika is painted on the top of its head to ward off evil. You find it on the door of the house as a good luck charm. It appears on wedding cards and holy paintings," Kallidai said. But he fears it will be a tough battle eradicating the swastika's nightmare image. "It is a very uphill climb because a 5,000-year-old symbol became associated 65 years ago with hatred, destruction and xenophobia," said Kallidai. "This could take a number of years."
