#1 'Nazi' bedding outcry in India
Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 5:33 am
BBC
Okay I can buy the swastika bit not being meant to be offensive. It's actually a common and old symbol especially in that part of the world. But! An acronym that just happens to spell out NAZI? Come on man... No one is buying that.A line of bedspreads named the "Nazi collection" has caused anger among India's small Jewish community.
The presence of the swastika next to the name is adding fuel to the controversy.
The owner of the company claims the name has nothing to do with Hitler or Nazi Germany.
But this has not convinced the Jewish community, which is considering launching a protest campaign against the dealer.
The owner of the home furnishings company, Kapil Kumar Todi, claims the acronym Nazi stands for "New Arrival Zone of India" and is not meant to be anti-Semitic.
Mr Todi also said the name just came to him, and he was not willing to change it, even if it offended Jewish people.
Restaurant protest
Ralphy Jhirad of the India Jewish Congress told the BBC he deplored this act, which he said was totally unacceptable not only to Jews in India, but around the world.
Before considering legal options, Mr Jhirad said, he hoped to meet the owner of the company and convince him of why this was wrong.
And he blamed the move on a combination of ignorance and publicity for the business.
There are an estimated 5,000 Jews in India, the majority of them living in and around the financial capital Mumbai.
Last year, protests by Jewish groups in Mumbai successfully forced a restaurant to change its name from Hitler's Cross to Cross Cafe.