Saikat Chakrabarti, the chief of staff for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, came under scrutiny for having worn a T-shirt that featured Nazi collaborator Subhas Chandra Bose.
In December 2018, following his boss’s congressional victory, Chakrabarti did a video with NowThis News, titled “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Chief of Staff on Acting Fast in Congress,” in which he wore a T-shirt with Bose’s face.
Chakrabarti’s choice of apparel is receiving a fresh round of criticism after Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, positively quoted Nazi sympathizer Eva Perón, the former first lady of Argentina.
Since I’ve only lost eight followers for pointing out who the Justice Democrats are, I thought, “fuck it.” pic.twitter.com/CkN2FuRXrv
— Jason Haddix (@doctor_eon) July 8, 2019
Twitter users pointed out that Bose was a fascist who was friendly with Adolf Hitler.
In case it’s not clear, AOC’s chief of staff is wearing a T-shirt with Subhas Chandra Bose on it — the Indian nationalist whose plan for fighting British colonialism involved sucking up to, uh, Hitler. https://t.co/Mvgcoa1R6a
— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) July 8, 2019
@AOC @RepAOC Can you explain why your chief of staff is wearing a t-shirt honoring a Nazi?
MSM, feel free to sit there and do nothing and let this happen. It’s what you do best. https://t.co/JTBGkt0v8c
— Gadfly With Me (@NathanWurtzel) July 8, 2019
I keep coming back to this @JYuter tweet on the partisan hypocrisy ppl engage in when it comes to antisemitism https://t.co/nCi0sZr8VM
— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) July 8, 2019
So @AOC Chief of Staff @saikatc proudly donning a Subhas Chandra Bose t-shirt is either totally ignorant, totally antisemitic, totally anti immigration, or classic progressive cherry picking on antisemitism and human rights. I’d love an explanation. pic.twitter.com/IvfDmEVdBO
— Kenneth Friedman (@KSFriedman) July 8, 2019
Bose, who wrote a book titled The Indian Struggle, visited Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in 1935 to give him a copy of the book, which advocated for a political system of fascism and communism.
In 1942, Bose met with Hitler and later said in 1944 that India “should be a synthesis between National Socialism and Communism.” The Times of India notes Bose “fancied himself as a world leader like Hitler and Mussolini.”
Bose declared himself in 1943 the head of a Provisional Government of Free India and claimed to be the head of state and prime minister, which he said he would enforce with execution of anyone who opposed him. In 1945, he died in a plane crash.
Criticism of Chakrabarti came the day after Ocasio-Cortez tweeted quotes from Perón.
“I know that, like every woman of the people, I have more strength than I appear to have,” the freshman congresswoman tweeted.
She followed up with another quote from Perón: “I had watched for many years and seen how a few rich families held much of Argentina’s wealth and power in their hands. So the government brought in an eight hour working day, sickness pay and fair wages to give poor workers a fair go.”
“I had watched for many years and seen how a few rich families held much of Argentina’s wealth and power in their hands. So the government brought in an eight hour working day, sickness pay and fair wages to give poor workers a fair go.”
– Evita Perón
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 7, 2019
Perón was also a Nazi sympathizer who, along with her husband, benefited both herself and Nazis by allowing safe passage after World War II in exchange for a cut of the wealth they stole from Jews.
Among those who found safety in Argentina while Perón’s husband ruled were Holocaust architect Adolf Eichmann and Nazi physician Josef Mengele, also known as the “Angel of Death.
