Aaliyah Banu: India is a bizarre place where you can find anything and everything, including but not limited to Adolf Hitler and John F Kennedy…
When Adolf Hitler Was Arrested By John F Kennedy In Meghalaya, India
Adolf Hitler later won the elections in the seat he was contesting in Meghalaya.
New Delhi: “Adolf Lu Hitler arrested by John F Kennedy”, read newspaper headlines during the 2008 assembly elections in Meghalaya, piquing interest of people across the country given the historical significance of the names.
In 2008 then NCP candidate Adolf Hitler was arrested by Superintendent of Police John F Kennedy
It so happened that then NCP candidate Adolf Hitler was arrested by Superintendent of Police John F Kennedy during campaigning for the assembly polls.
Adolf Lu Hitler
The following day, newspapers splashed the headline “Adolf Lu Hitler Arrested by John F Kennedy”. The headlines quickly became the talk of the town, and would have been viral, if social media was as prominent as it is today.
Superintendent of Police John F Kennedy
Adolf Hitler later won the elections in the seat he was contesting in Meghalaya.
This anecdote was shared by the Election Commission in a post on X as the country gears up for Lok Sabha polls this year.
Last year, Adolf Hitler joined the Trinamool Congress.
A 20 year old Nancy Pelosi with John F. Kennedy
Adolf Hitler is running for election in India. So is Frankenstein
The tiny northeast Indian state of Meghalaya has a special fascination with interesting and sometimes controversial names… Among the 345 contestants running for the state assembly are Frankenstein Momin, Billykid Sangma, Field Marshal Mawphniang and Romeo Rani. Some, like Kenedy Marak, Kennedy Cornelius Khyriem and Jhim Carter Sangma, are clearly hoping for the electoral success of their namesake American presidents.
Then there is Hitler.
This 54-year-old father of three has won three elections to the state assembly with little controversy over being named after the Nazi dictator.
His father had worked with the British army, but apparently developed enough of a fascination with Great Britain’s archenemy to name his son Adolf Hitler — though he also gave him the middle name Lu, Hitler said.
We caught another imposter…
“I am aware at one point of time Adolf Hitler was the most hated person on Earth for the genocide of the Jews. But my father added ‘Lu’ in between, naming me Adolf Lu Hitler, and that’s why I am different,” Hitler said from the small village of Mansingre, 200 kilometers (125 miles) west of Gauhati, the capital of the nearby state of Assam.
John F. Kennedy holding a snake in Palm Beach, Florida, 1936
Hitler said his name has not stopped him from traveling the world, including to the United States and Germany.
“I never had problems obtaining a visa, but I was asked many times during immigration as to why I should have such a name. I told the immigration staff I possibly didn’t have a role in my naming,” he said.
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India played little role in World War II, and many Indians view Hitler not as the personification of evil but as a figure of fascination. Hitler’s book “Mein Kampf” is prominently displayed at many Indian bookstores. The owner of a menswear shop named his store “Hitler,” then expressed puzzlement last year after Israel complained.
Musfika Haq, a teacher in Meghalaya’s capital, Shillong, said such names are common in the state.
“Parents obviously get fascinated by names of well-known or great leaders, but must be unaware that some of them, like Hitler, had been highly controversial,” he said.