Sales of Mein Kampf are regular throughout the year, with copies prominently displayed at all leading bookstores. Students that RT spoke to said the book offers certain lessons – something that would strike many as odd, if not offensive.

“In our country we need more pride and self-confidence. Hitler developed his country in a very short time through industrialization. Yes, he definitely had some bad qualities, but we can learn from his management style and leadership skills,” reader Ram Kumar believes.

Mein Kampf is banned in Germany and has recently been banned in Russia. To provide a counter-balance to it in India, Jaico has published another German book, “Sein Kampf”, written by Irene Harand in 1935.

“She debunked the whole theory of Hitler, saying that this man who claimed to have a democratic vision, but was actually a megalomaniac dictator. And all his lies, that Germany was ruined, was a pack of lies, just for his personal gain,” Sharma explains.

As outrageous as it may seem to the rest of the world that Mein Kampf is so popular in India, it should be noted that it is largely due to the population’s curiosity about someone who is so reviled in the West.