A
week before the recently concluded Indian election, I travelled to Varanasi, an
ancient and a holly city for Hindus in north India.
The
political temperature was peeping in this multi- religious and chaotic city. Narendra Modi, the new prime minister of India was contesting from here, thus
making it a ground zero of the world’s largest democratic contest.
I
was with my correspondent to gauge the mood of the public in the city. On the banks of the Ganges on which the
ancient city stands providing spiritual solace and mukti (liberation of souls) to millions of pious Hindus, we met two
first time voters.
The
two young boys, who are students talked freely about their choice of
candidates. Modi, they said, was their hero; he was like Hitler and India needs
a figure like him!
They
knew about Modi’s track record in his home state of Gujarat. They said that the
state was prospering under his leadership and hoped that he will replicate the
same model of development for the rest of the country. It all sounded great,
but I wondered what was actually the connection with Hitler here?!
“Well
India needs a strong administrator you see. There is too much corruption and we
need a strong leader,” said one of the boys.
I
said that’s all fine but Hitler wasn’t a great man. “ Hitler killed millions,
are you aware of that?” – I asked.
They
looked confused. Perplexed I asked them
if they have studied about Hitler in school. They said they did in brief but
the message they had from it was that he was a strong leader.
It
was just not the two young school graduates. People attending a Modi’s rally just outside
the capital New Delhi echoed similar sentiment. The
people we spoke with were mesmerised by Modi, yet they said he will rule the
country like Hitler!
Really!! “ What do you mean when you say that
sir?” I asked. The answer was similar: a strong leader who can fight corruption
and put India in its rightful path of growth and development.
It
was heartening to see the aspirations of ordinary people: how much they urged
for progress and good life and their expectation from charismatic Narendra Modi.
But
comparison with Hitler astounded me every time I heard it.
It
was not just the people who admired him.
Many who didn’t support him or was wary of him also compared him with
Hitler.
Rahul
Gandhi of the Congress, and Modi’s main rival in one of his political rallies
went on to compare two types of leader: Gandhi and Hitler. Without naming Modi directly, he said whilst Gandhi believed
in the knowledge of the people, Hitler believed that entire knowledge of the
world is in his mind.
Clearly,
such statement in the West would have opened a whole new serious debate or the politician would have been chided for invoking the name of Hitler , but in
India it such clumsly reference sounded like an understatement for history's greatest mass murderer.
Anuradha,
a teacher of history tells me that Hitler is not really taught in schools.
There is a reference to second world war, but due to India’s own political
development and fight against the British rule during the rein of Hitler, that
part of the world history doesn’t get much attention.
She says: "socially in India people have heard the name of Hitler and many see him as a
short man who took on the world and was a strong leader. Many not so educated people are ignorant that he is one of the deadliest murders ever to be born in the
history of the world."
A few years back a café in Mumbai was named
after Hitler! They changed the name after severe criticism. The owner was
quoted telling the media “"We wanted to be different. This is one name
that will stay in people's minds ... we want to tell people we are different in
the way he was different."
Different
indeed…. The history is not the same for everyone after all!
