Tesla electric vehicles and superchargers have come under attack in many parts of USA and even in Europe recently as a ‘protest’ against Elon Musk and his role in the Trump administration as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Taking to X on 31st March, Musk responded to a video showing a Tesla owner confronting a person who defaced his Tesla EV with a Nazi symbol, however, instead of calling what it actually is, Musk called the Nazi symbol ‘Swastika’.
“Anyone who scrawls a swastika on a Tesla has obviously committed a hate crime,” Musk wrote.
Anyone who scrawls a swastika on a Tesla has obviously committed a hate crime https://t.co/EJFkYxDHrV
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 31, 2025
Anti-Tesla ‘protests’ intensify
The spate of attacks on Tesla cars were not restricted to the US, where the company is based, and extended even to Italy as 17 vehicles were recently set ablaze at a Tesla dealership in Rome. Elon Musk had condemned these targeted attacks as acts of “terrorism”. In Sweden’s Stockholm and Malmo, two Tesla stores were vandalised. In France, 12 Tesla electric superchargers were targeted in an arson attack in the parking lot in St. Chamond recently. In the US as well, the vehicles of the Musk-owned EV giant have come under attack.
Earlier as well, several attacks on Tesla have taken place, including vandalism at Tesla showrooms and charging stations in the US and France. In one incident, a woman was arrested in Colorado for allegedly trying to set a Tesla dealership on fire. In another, gunshots were fired at a Tesla sales centre in Oregon.
The anti-Tesla agitation intensified further after Musk voiced support for the ‘far-right’ political parties in many European countries. For the first two months of 2025, the sales of Tesla EVs increased; however, in Europe, sales slumped 49%.
Earlier this month, Musk alleged that ActBlue, a fundraising platform, was involved in inciting anti-Tesla protests.
Difference between Nazi Hakenkreuz and Swastika
There is a huge difference between the two symbols – the sacred religious symbol – Swastika and the Nazi hate symbol – Hakenkreuz. When translated from its Sanskrit root, Swastika comprises ‘su’ meaning ”good” and ‘Asti’ meaning ”to be”. In other words, well-being. It dates back some 6,000 years to rock and cave paintings. Scholars agree that it originated in India. It has also been a symbol of good luck, prosperity, and all things auspicious for other ancient cultures, including the Vikings and Greeks, besides Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains.
In the Hindu tradition, the straight line after the bend of the arms of the Swastika is called Sarupya “to be of the same form as God), Salokya (to be in the same world as God), Samipya (to be near God), and Sayujya (to be in the same form as God). These represent different levels of divine union.
Swastika was first mentioned in the Vedas and it symbolises many things like Surya (the sun) and Brahma, the creator. It is seen as a power symbol and is also the emblem of Ganesha, the god of good luck. In both Hinduism and Jainism, the Swastika is used to mark the opening pages of account books, doors, and thresholds.
Back in 2013, the American Jewish Committee, one of the country’s oldest Jewish advocacy organizations, released a leaflet clarifying the distinction between the Swastika used for millennia by Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist cultures and the deformed Nazi version of it.
In the year 2021, the Oregon Education Department officially recognised the distinction between the sacred religious symbol, Swastika, and the Nazi’s ‘Hakenkreuz’.
The leftist Western media has long been deliberately using the term Swastika for Nazi Hakenkreuz in their reports despite the two symbols being absolutely unrelated. This repeated usage in the media reports and the political parlance of the West and Europe has long normalised calling the Nazi symbol as Swastika. However, over the years, the Hindu communities in Europe and the United States have raised strong objections to such offensive association of the Hindu symbol with the symbol co-opted by 20th century Jewish genocidaire Adolf Hitler for his dictatorial regime.
Swastika and Hakenkreuz are not only distinct in design with Swastika appearing upright while Nazi Hakenkreuz (hooked cross) appears tilted to 45 degrees and usually depicted within a white circle on a red background.
Elon Musk conflates Nazi Hakenkreuz with Swastika: Why he is wrong and what makes this conflation dangerous
Elon Musk calling it Swastika is a case of cultural ignorance and insensitivity. Elon Musk inadvertently conflated the Nazi Hakenkreuz—a symbol of hate and genocide of Jews, with the Hindu symbol Swastika—the ancient emblem of peace, prosperity, and good fortune. While Musk is not wrong in condemning attacks on Tesla vehicles, the billionaire has implicated an unrelated Hindu religious symbol in the process.
At a time, when Hindus and Indian Americans are already grappling with a surge of Hinduphobia and racism by American racists and Christian supremacists, Elon Musk’s failure to distinguish between Nazi Hakenkreuz and Hindu Swastika will just help propagate outrage against Hindus who have nothing remotely to do with Nazism.
Musk, like many other Europeans and Westerners, has so far ignored widespread criticism by the Hindu community against calling the Nazi Hakenkreuz as Swastika. The attacks and vandalism of Tesla vehicles is a crime for sure; however, pinning it on the Hindu Swastika is also a crime that drags an innocent community and its sacred symbol into the crosshairs of hate.
