SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, April 23, 2022 (Sydney Morning Herald): Surinder Jain, national vice president of the Hindu Council of Australia, has a dream: to normalize the swastika in Australia. Not the hate symbol that featured on the Nazi flag and is still waved by far-right racists today. Jain is referring to the ancient icon that plays a central role in the religious practice of hundreds of millions of people around the world. Jain has joined forces with New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies chief executive Darren Bark to promote awareness of the sacred swastika. “For us, it is a symbol of peace and prosperity, not an evil symbol of destruction,” Jain said. But he says many Australian Hindus, including himself, are afraid to display the icon in public because of its superficial similarity to the hakenkreuz – the Nazis’ “hooked cross.” While it is common to see the ancient swastika prominently displayed on exterior walls and street chalk drawings in India, Jain says the symbol has largely been trapped in an “indoor prison” in Australia.
The NSW government is preparing legislation to ban the display of the Nazi swastika, joining Germany, Austria, France, and parts of Canada. The Victorian government has also begun the process to ban the symbol. Some Hindu groups initially feared that banning the Nazi swastika could drive their sacred symbol even further underground because of confusion between the two. But the NSW government has promised its legislation will include explicit exemptions for anyone who displays the symbol as part of the genuine practice of Hinduism, Jainism or Buddhism. Hindu groups in NSW now see the ban as a chance to bring their swastika out of the shadows, a mission the state’s Jewish community passionately supports. Jain said he was urging the NSW government to fund an awareness campaign to educate the public about the differences between the two symbols.
More at source.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/push-to-liberate-religious-swastika-in-nsw-from-its-indoor-prison-20220422-p5afce.html