Ever since Uddhav Thackeray joined hands with Congress (INC) and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), he has never missed an opportunity to display his Hindu hate (Hindudvesh) albeit using the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) as a red herring. In the latest instance, Thackeray has compared the Hindu holy Swastika to the Nazi symbol Hakenkreuz.
Thackeray equates Swastika to Hakenkreuz
In his speech on Sunday (June 18), Thackeray criticized the Prime Minister (PM) and Home Minister (HM) during a conclave held to celebrate Shiv Sena Foundation Day. In his tirade against the PM, the former Maharashtra CM and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief mouthed Western propaganda equating the holy Hindu symbol to Nazi Hakenkreuz.
He equated PM Modi to Hitler and accused the PM of pushing Bharat towards ‘dictatorship’ just as Hitler had done in the 1930s. “Our ruling party is acting in the same way as Hitler’s party [the Nazi party]…It is silencing all Opposition, unleashing Central agencies on them, and seizing media control. Remember, Hitler’s symbol too was the Swastika”, Thackeray added while alleging that BJP was similar to the Nazi Party. Furthermore, he alleged that the PM and BJP’s ‘authoritarian’ rule was ‘breaking the country into pieces’.
Deceitful Western conspiracy to demonize Swastika
For all his claims of being a ‘Hindutvawadi’, Thackeray has merely repeated the Western propaganda aimed at defaming Hindu Dharma by deliberately demonizing the Swastika and calling Nazi Hakenkreuz the pious Hindu symbol.
At a time when Hindu leaders across the globe are taking efforts to debunk the propaganda and change the perception created towards the Swastika, the INC-NCP ally appears to be repeating the misplaced Western propaganda only to suit his narrow political agenda. A true Hindu would certainly know that the hooked cross (a Christian symbol) and Swastika are poles apart.
HinduPost had debunked the Western propaganda demonizing the pious Hindu Swastika. The swastika is a cross with arms bent at right angles and has always been used as a sign of positivity and hope. It is an ancient symbol, that has been used for thousands of years to represent prosperity and good fortune. It symbolizes the Sun and evokes a divine feeling and a sense of auspiciousness. The word Swastika itself is derived from the Sanskrit svastika, which means conducive to well-being.
On the other hand, Hakenkreuz or Hooked Cross is a Christian symbol, that became the emblem of the Nazi Party in 1920. Hitler used the black, red, and white colours from the old German imperial flag to connect the past with the future. However, he gave a whole new meaning to this flag where the white colour portrayed nationalism, the red colour stood for the social idea of the movement, and the Hakenkreuz was used to reflect the importance of the Aryan race.
After the Second World War, some nefarious attempts were made to equate the Swastika with Hooked Cross. The German government banned the public display of this symbol, and it still remains illegal there. The Swastika was dubiously associated with Hitler and the neo-Nazis, and the Western world made it a potent symbol of white supremacists or far-right groups.
The image of Swastika was corrupted and an entire intellectual army was roped in to associate it with the horrors of Nazism and their atrocities. Even in 2007, several German politicians tried to ban the ‘Swastika’ symbol in the European Union, which forced Hindus to oppose such attempts vehemently.
Thackeray’s history of anti-Hindu statements
Thackeray is a habitual offender when it comes to hurting Hindu sentiments although he cleverly hides his Hindudvesh as anti-BJP-RSS jibes. “Every time I am accused of going with the Congress and leaving Hindutva, is there no Hindu in the Congress? There (RSS-BJP) Hindutva is Gaumutradhari Hindutva. They recently sprinkled cow urine at the place in Sambhajinagar where we conducted our public meeting. They should have drunk some cow urine; they would have become wiser; our Hindutva is about nationalism”, he said in April this year.
This March, Uddhav Thackeray displayed his Hindudvesh (Hinduphobia) by using the ‘gaumutra’ jibe in the guise of targeting the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) while speaking at the Golibar Maidan in Ratnagiri’s Khed. “The BJP thinks we got independence by sprinkling Gaumutra. Did we get independence by sprinkling Gaumutra? No”, he said in the video.
Social media (SM) users were quick to point out similarities between his speech and that of jihadi groups that often use the ‘piss drinker’ jibes.
Not surprisingly, Thackeray’s language echoes Congress, NCP, AIMIM, and other so-called secular parties that use secularism as a facade to hide their Hindu hate. Thackeray has made such Hinduphobic remarks earlier as well. His hatred for BJP seems to have translated into hatred for Hindu Dharma and Hindu Samaj. Or probably Congress and NCP’s Hinduphobia has rubbed off on Thackeray as well?
In October 2020, while speaking at the annual Shiv Sena Dusshera Mela, Uddhav Thackeray alleged that BJP’s Hindutva is confined only to Gaumutra and Cow Dung. He further went on to say that BJP spews the same gaumutra and cow dung on others. Attacking further he said, “It is you and your clothes who reek smell of Gaumutra and Dung. What am I supposed to do?”.
A self-respecting Hindu would never disrespect Gomata but Thackeray insulted Hindus and Hindu Dharma simply to score a political point. The masks have now fallen off and Thackeray has proved that he had simply been using Hindu Dharma to gather votes. After joining hands with Congress and NCP, he has shown his true colours and is using the language used by these parties to demean Hindus. It would be better if he stops using the Hindutva tag just to gain votes.
In December 2020, Thackeray in his Assembly speech said, “Those who were earlier reading horoscopes have now begun to read books and reports”. This was apparently a jibe targeting the LoP (Leader of Opposition) Devendra Fadnavis who is a Brahmin. Thackeray wanted to imply that Brahmins only read horoscopes.
It must be mentioned here that Brahmins traditionally read horoscopes so as to ascertain the date and time for the various Hindu rituals including Hindu festivals and marriages. Thackeray should bear in mind that not only Brahmins every Hindu community reads and follows the horoscopes before performing rituals.
As HinduPost has repeatedly pointed out, from the looks of it, Thackeray not only needs lessons on Hindutva and Hindu Dharma but also in using a civil language and respecting Hindus. Moreover, it would help if he takes time out to learn the difference between Swastika and Hakenkreuz. Attacking Hindus just to score political brownie points and acceptance among his new-found secular friends is certainly a trait of Lutyens cabal.
