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Last update - 14:21 30/09/2007
Indian Jews outraged after local company labels product 'NAZI'
By Reuters

MUMBAI - India's small Jewish community is up in arms against an Indian home furnishing maker that has named its new line of bedspreads "NAZI" and used the swastika in its promotional brochure.

The furnishings dealer says the word "NAZI" stands for New Arrival Zone of India, but local Jewish leaders insisted the name rang of Adolf Hitler's anti-Semitic regime.

"We will ask him to stop this nonsense," Jonathan Solomon, head of Indian Jewish Federation told Reuters on Sunday. "We don't want Nazism to arrive in any zone in India or the world."

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The NAZI-named bedspread is being sold at stores in India's financial capital Mumbai. The new product is promoted with a brochure that displays two red swastikas against a black background.

The brochure reads "Bed and Beyond presents the NAZI collection" with the expanded form of the word written in a very small font. The cover has a picture of two red cushions and a red bedspread.

"The name has nothing to do with Hitler," said the dealer, Kapil Kumar Todi, denying he had chosen the name for free publicity. "It's just an abbreviation."

But Indian Jews - only about 5,000 remain after most migrated to Israel and the West over the years - say they are outraged by the gimmick. Solomon said they would take legal recourse if Todi did not change the name.

Holocaust awareness in India is limited and Hitler is regarded by many as just another historical figure.

"What this says is there is a severe lack of awareness of what millions of Jews were subjected to by one man," said Solomon. "We will stop all attempts to rehabilitate Hitler in any form, anywhere."

The bedspread line is not yet on sale, but brochures were handed out in a mall in a northern Mumbai suburb, the Times of India newspaper reported Sunday.

Furnishing dealer Kapil Kumar Todi said he chose the name because "that's what came to my mind," according to the paper.

"It really does not matter to me who feels bad about it," he said.

Nazi ideas are largely rejected in India, but a rightist Hindu fringe deifies Hitler's rabid nationalism. In 2005, the western state of Gujarat, ruled by Hindu nationalists, introduced a high-school book that eulogised Hitler as a strong administrator.

Last year, a small restaurant in Mumbai was forced to change its name from "Hitler's Cross" to "Cross Cafe" after strong protests.

The eatery had its interior done in the Nazi colors of red, white and black, used red swastikas and a huge portrait of Hitler as promotional material.

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  1.   He met his objective 11:05  |  Michael 30/09/07
  2.   NAZISM IS LIKE AIDS 11:45  |  M 30/09/07
  3.   Why is he saying it`s not hitler-related, yet using a swastica? 11:52  |  John Ryan 30/09/07
  4.   There `s no tradition of anti semitism in India,most people don`t 12:43  |  lakshmi 30/09/07
  5.   #2 Swastika 12:43  |  Fish 30/09/07
  6.   to John Ryan 13:00  |  Marcin 30/09/07
  7.   To Fish 13:15  |  Curious 30/09/07
  8.   john ryan 4 13:37  |  realism 30/09/07
  9.   Hitler`s sick ideology comes in all forms 13:54  |  Marlene N 30/09/07
  10.   This Is Not Nazism 14:31  |  Bill Foonman 30/09/07
  11.   Clickfool`s seal of approval? 14:40  |  Mark 30/09/07
  12.   Mein Kampf 14:47  |  JR 30/09/07
  13.   Swastika as a symbol 14:55  |  JR 30/09/07
  14.   There may be no history of antisemitism Lakshmi 15:26  |  Jasmine Murphy 30/09/07
  15.   In the Hindu faith 15:28  |  Chris Linthwaite 30/09/07
  16.   Lakshmi 15:30  |  notblackorwhite 30/09/07
  17.   The Swastika 15:33  |  Dav 30/09/07
  18.   Patronising Chris Linthwaite re.Swastika 16:11  |  notblackorwhite 30/09/07
  19.   #11 Mark 16:20  |  judith 30/09/07
  20.   #15 Chris thinks we`re idiots 16:22  |  judith 30/09/07
  21.   14jasmine Murphy,Hitler hijacked a beautiful symbol that goes 16:24  |  lakshmi 30/09/07
  22.   lakshmi 16:39  |  hafeez 30/09/07
  23.   lakshmi 16:45  |  notblackorwhite 30/09/07
  24.   #6 Marcin - American Indians used the same symbol 16:55  |  * BEN JABO 30/09/07
  25.   India 16:55  |  Uzi 30/09/07
  26.   #47 16:59  |  * BEN JABO 30/09/07
  27.   Lakshmi the Brahmin 17:00  |  notblackorwhite 30/09/07
  28.   #17 Dav - The Swastika 17:02  |  * BEN JABO 30/09/07
  29.   #15 Linthwaite 17:04  |  * BEN JABO 30/09/07
  30.   14 million can not 17:06  |  Dav 30/09/07
  31.   #21 lakshmi 17:07  |  * BEN JABO 30/09/07
  32.   Dav exposed!!! Re 14m 17:25  |  notblackorwhite 30/09/07
  33.   #24 Dav 17:32  |  * BEN JABO 30/09/07
  34.   to Lakshmi 17:41  |  Hilda 30/09/07
  35.   #23 Ben Jabo 17:44  |  Chris Linthwaite 30/09/07
  36.   THE "MOST STUPIDEST" LINTHWAITE 18:18  |  Brant 30/09/07
  37.   Lakshmi #21 - For Once I Semi Agree With You 18:42  |  Eli 30/09/07
  38.   ben jabo 24 18:56  |  realism 30/09/07
  39.   #36 Brant 19:15  |  Chris Linthwaite 30/09/07
  40.   #35 Linthwaite 19:25  |  * BEN JABO 30/09/07
  41.   Linthwaite 19:40  |  David aDifferent Jew 30/09/07
  42.   * BEN JABO # 40 re History Repeating Itself 20:05  |  Eli 30/09/07
  43.   ... 20:10  |  Colin Wright 30/09/07
  44.   A little bit of Indian Jewish history 20:15  |  Gil62 30/09/07
  45.   Eli and Chris 20:18  |  hafeez 30/09/07
  46.   There is an old saying which goes:if a thing ain`t broke don`t 20:25  |  lakshmi 30/09/07
  47.   Hafeez # 45 - I Quickly Glanced At The Article And Did Not 20:28  |  Eli 30/09/07
  48.   #41 David adifferent jew 20:29  |  Chris Linthwaite 30/09/07
  49.   Insensitive: However Indians not antisemitic 20:41  |  Semsem 30/09/07
  50.   #15 Non Jews can`t understand / Insensitive 20:44  |  Laila 30/09/07
  51.   Lakshmi: Veiled Threats / Intolerance / A Hindu or Moslem? 20:53  |  Fortunee 30/09/07
  52.   Swastikas mean something different in India but NAZI is different 21:24  |  Efox 30/09/07
  53.   re: Dav 21:26  |  Efox 30/09/07
  54.   Colin Wright ... 21:33  |  Bruce 30/09/07
  55.   Fortunee re.Lakshmi 22:39  |  notblackorwhite 30/09/07
  56.   Sure Hell on Us Dyslexics 22:52  |  Reader 30/09/07
  57.   LINTHWAITE: MY REPLY 23:03  |  Brant 30/09/07
  58.   nazi PLUS swastika is the problem 23:12  |  Slibovitz 30/09/07
  59.   #42 Eli - Berkeley 23:13  |  * BEN JABO 30/09/07
  60.   #48 Linthwaite - you just don`t get it. 23:18  |  * BEN JABO 30/09/07
  61.   #46 lakshmi 23:21  |  * BEN JABO 30/09/07
  62.   #24 Ben Jabo 23:31  |  Marcin 30/09/07
  63.   let the Indians do what they want 23:32  |  Jonathan 30/09/07
  64.   let them do as they please. 23:34  |  Jonathan 30/09/07
  65.   Is their any other people 00:31  |  Danite 01/10/07
  66.   Interesting that 44 says that there is no official record of anti 00:40  |  lakshmi 01/10/07
  67.   (Contd.)and this applied even to the British colonials.As I said 00:52  |  lakshmi 01/10/07
  68.   #60 Ben Jabo 01:02  |  Chris Linthwaite 01/10/07
  69.   #57 01:10  |  Chris Linthwaite 01/10/07
  70.   LINTHWAITE 69: MY SECOND REPLY 02:23  |  Brant 01/10/07
  71.   change it! 02:42  |  amit 01/10/07
  72.   The Jews will make this guy`s life very unpleasant 03:18  |  Micha 01/10/07
  73.   #68 Linthwaite 05:58  |  * BEN JABO 01/10/07
  74.   india has nothing to do with holocaust . 09:59  |  amit 01/10/07
  75.   hitler and jews 10:24  |  arya 01/10/07
  76.   learn to be tolerant for divurgent views ,dear jews 10:32  |  arya 01/10/07
  77.   holocaust a non issue for us indians 10:37  |  arya 01/10/07
  78.   #76 arya - India 16:53  |  * BEN JABO 01/10/07
  79.   Amit, Arya, Laxshmi 01:26  |  hafeez 02/10/07
  80.   Indians not anti-Semitic 19:34  |  Benjamin 06/10/07
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