ABSTRACT
The chapter gives an overview of the popularity Adolf Hitler has come to enjoy in India by bringing into sharp focus its varied manifestations in Popular Culture. In its attempt to understand the strange phenomenon, the chapter traces the genesis of the popularity to India’s response to the Holocaust. It draws our attention to the several factors that have contributed to it, viz., the high level of ignorance of the Holocaust among Indians; the Hindu nationalist admiration for Nazism, mediated by their attitude toward Muslims in India; and a craving for strong leadership among the masses. The chapter also analyzes the Hindu nationalist reference to the Holocaust as a trope in their anti-Muslim critique, resulting in the trivialization of the Holocaust. It also studies the tendency in certain sections of Muslims in India to deny the Holocaust and minimize its scale and the incentives for them to do so. In addition to the theoretical concerns mentioned previously, this chapter looks at how Holocaust inversion figures in the English language press in India.
