Indian lawmaker attends parliament in Hitler costume to criticize PM

NEW Delhi:- An Indian lawmaker has appeared in Parliament dressed like Adolf Hitler, complete with a toothbrush moustache and wearing a khaki coat with swastika symbols on his pocket and arm. 

Naramalli Sivaprasad, who also raised his hand in a Nazi salute, performed the 'stunt' to ask for more funds for the development of his state in southern India.

He said he wanted to send a message to Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to 'follow Hitler', however it is not clear what he meant by this. 

He complained that Mr Modi had gone back on a promise to provide extra funds for his Andhra Pradesh state.

'He does not get the pulse of what people want and I want to urge him to not be like him (Hitler),' he said.

It also unsuccessfully tried to bring down the government through a no-confidence motion last month in Parliament.

Mr Sivaprasad often wears fancy dress as he raises different issues, and has turned up to parliament as a farmer, a cattle herder, a Muslim cleric and a woman in the past.

Hitler remains a figure of fascination in India, where the Holocaust is not well known, and is widely seen more as a strong leader than a genocidal dictator.

His book, Mein Kampf, can be found in many bookstores, and bootleg copies are regularly sold in the streets of New Delhi and other large cities.