Since this involves desis and because we set the rules on this blog, we will challenge Godwin’s law in this post.
When Chris Andreson wrote about the “Long Tail” effect back in ‘04, he probably was not thinking about the sales of Hitler memorabilia in India. [BBC]
The (disturbing) growth of Hitler’s influence in India was literally thrust into the limelight by the announcement of a Hitler movie by Bollywood. Bollywood veteran Anupam Kher who was slated to play Hitler subsequently had a change of heart and withdrew from the movie. However, Hitler fandom appears to be alive and well in India.
Slowly but steadily, a decade-old business around the dead and universally despised dictator Adolf Hitler is emerging as a small-scale industry in India.
Books and memorabilia on the German leader’s life have found a steady market in some sections of Indian society where he is idolised and admired, mostly by the young.
The numbers are small but seem to be growing.
Most of these new customers appear to be educated upper middle class Gen Y customers, who are well aware of Hitler’s racist tendencies and the Holocaust he engineered but are drawn to him nonetheless.
It’s hard to narrow down what makes the dictator popular in India, but some young people say they are attracted by his “discipline and patriotism”.
Most of them are, however, quick to add that they do not approve of his racial prejudices and the Holocaust in which millions of Jews were killed.
Like vultures, businesses and publishing houses are quick to key in onto this “opportunity”.
But the truth is that books, T-shirts, bags and key-rings with his photo or name on do sell in India. And his autobiography, Mein Kampf, sells the most.
Jaico, the largest publisher and distributor of Mein Kampf in India, has sold more than a 100,000 copies in the last 10 years.
Crossword, an India-wide chain of book stores, has sold more than 25,000 copies since 2000 and marketing head Sivaram Balakrishnan says: “It’s been a consistent bestseller for us.”
And demand seems to be growing. Jaico’s chief editor RH Sharma says: “There has been a steady rise of 10% to 15% in the book’s sale.”
Until two years ago, a typical Mumbai (Bombay) bookstore sold 40-50 copies of Mein Kampf a year. Now the figure is more like several hundred copies annually.
Given the paucity of “real leaders” in post-independence India’s history, it appears that some of India’s youth have latched onto Hitler as a role model.
But young Indians’ fascination for him has been explained succinctly by academic Govind Kulkarni: “The youth look for a hero, a patriot, and Hitler was a committed patriot. He is seen as someone who can solve problems. The young people here are faced with a lot of problems.”
We’ve lamented time and again about the lack of Holocaust awareness in India and recent trends seem to confirm this line of thinking. This rise in popularity of Hitler can be attributed to the sudden acceptance of Hitler’s ideas among management students, a trend we talked about last year. Unfortunately, instead of a becoming a passing fad, it appears to have permeated into other sections of Indian society, which is quite disconcerting given the amount of racism and vitriol that embodies Hitler’s ideologies.
So what do you think about Hitler’s sudden popularity in India? Do the Indian youth really Is this a passing fad or here to stay? Would you consider it disturbing or fairly harmless?
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