Mumbai's mayor Snehal Ambekar, who hails from the Shiv Sena party, has compared Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to former German Nazi ruler Adolf Hitler in an interview with a newspaper.
Ambekar, who became the first Dalit woman mayor last year, said that "Modi's rule is quite Hitler-esque", in an interview with the Afternoon Dispatch and Courier newspaper.
While the Mumbai mayor said that Modi was among the leaders she admired for his "self-reliant ways", she immediately compared him to Hitler.
"I even admire Mr. Narendra Modi for his self-reliant way of working, but at some level I feel his rule is quite Hitler-shaahi. This is bound to happen when power is concentrated in the hands of one man," Ambekar said in the interview.
Ambekar made the controversial statement in response to a question about the leaders she admired apart from Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray.
She said that she admired Uddhav Thackeray for "striving towards Balasaheb's vision of a better Mumbai", and then also mentioned Modi's name.
The Shiv Sena and the BJP have had strained relations since a fall-out and a last minute reconciliation between the two last year during the Maharashtra assembly elections.
The Mumbai-based party has often hit out at Modi and the BJP through their editorials in their party mouthpiece Saamna.
