Mumbai mayor compares PM Modi to Hitler, BJP seeks clarification

Shiv Sena corporator and city mayor Snehal Ambekar created a controversy after hinting that Prime Minister Narendera Modi was “concentrating” all power with him and compared him to Hitler, in an interview to a city tabloid.

She said that she admired Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray as he was “down-to-earth”. She added that she even admired Modi for his “self-reliant way of working”, but felt his rule was quite “Hitler-shaahi”.

Ambekar’s supporters and party colleagues stated that Ambekar had praised Modi in the interview and did not speak anything against him. Ambekar refused to issue any clarification over the issue. The Sena is the ruling party in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), along with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The Sena is also an alliance partner in the Maharashtra and Modi-led central governments.

City Congress president Sanjay Nirupam said, “We have been saying since long that Modi’s working style is like Hitler’s. He always consolidates power with him, which we had seen in Gujarat, when he was chief minister. We are witnessing the same when he is prime minister. He never pays attention to our comments but he should at least pay heed to his alliance partner’s suggestions and change his working style.”

Last month, BJP Colaba MLA Raj Purohit, in a secretly shot video, agreed that Modi and BJP president Amit Shah were the only ones wielding power in the party and there was no internal democracy.

BJP party leader in the BMC Manoj Kotak said, “I have spoken to the mayor, and she denied making any statement against Modi. She has not used the word ‘Hitler’. We have demanded that they (Sena) issue a clarification.”

Sena party leader in the BMC Trushna Vishwasrao said she had spoken to the mayor, who said she had not mentioned the word ‘Hitler’ in the interview.