A curry house has been forced to defend itself after people mistook a peace sign above its entrance for a Nazi swastika.
Lily’s Vegetarian Indian Restaurant in Ashton-under-Lyme, Greater Manchester, has taken to social media to fight back against criticism of their welcome sign.
The peace sign, which was proudly displayed across the front of the restaurant, had seemingly been confused for the emblem used by the Nazi Party in the 1930s and 40s, prompting some people to claim they would never step foot in Lily’s ‘whilst they have a swastika over the door’.
However, fans of the food establishment were quick to jump to its defence, saying it’s ‘absolutely pathetic’ and a ‘shame’ Lily’s was being forced to defend itself.
Lily’s shared a picture of the sign on Facebook, writing:
The symbol that is used in this sign is a religious Hindu symbol. It is an ancient symbol of spirituality and represents auspiciousness and good luck. It has been recognised as this symbol since 3000 BC and still represents this for many Hindus around the world today.
We have been made aware that some comments have been circulating that imply we have this symbol up for other reasons and would like to make it clear that this isn’t the case.
One person commented:
It’s sad that such a beautiful and religious symbol of swastika which means: pure and auspicious, destroyed by an unholy man by reversing it and made it into a symbol of hatred for generations!
Kudos Lily’s Vegetarian Indian Cuisine for standing up to our culture and explaining the meaning to all those who are unaware.
However, one less than satisfied follower wrote:
It’s not of what it was but what it is now, as it is and always be known as a nationalist socialist party symbol, just bad party planning was involved in the sign.
No matter how much you dress it up with hope peace blah blah its a symbol of the worst atrocities to have ever happened.
Defending its decision to keep the sign, Lily’s replied:
We’re not trying to ‘dress up’ anything, this sign originally belonged to us, just because someone took it and tainted it, we won’t let it ruin its true peaceful meaning.
The Nazi swastika used by the far right is rotated 45° and usually appears black on a white circle, with a red background.
However, the sign above Lily’s symbolises prosperity and good luck in Hinduism.
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Emma Rosemurgey is an NCTJ trained Journalist who started her career by producing The Royal Rosemurgey newspaper in 2004, which kept her family up to date with the goings on of her sleepy north east village. She graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston and started her career in regional newspapers before joining Tyla (formerly Pretty 52) in 2017, and progressing onto UNILAD in 2019.