Sitting atop her lion, the Hindu goddess Durga wields a celestial weapon in each of her 10 hands. But her target isn’t the usual demon of deceit, Mahishasura.
She’s taking aim at a different perceived foe representing the forces of evil: a striking figure with a blond coif, a rippling torso and a face modeled on US President Donald Trump.
Unveiled last week in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal during the Hindu festival of Durga Puja, known as Durga Pujo by Bengali Hindus, the sculpture’s symbolism was impossible to ignore.
In a celebration that honors the triumph of good over evil, the statue was more than just political satire. It was a symbol of a once tightly woven friendship now frayed by Trump’s attempts to reshape global trade.
“India and America had good relations previously but ever since Trump has come, he’s trying to suppress India, to push us over, to squash us,” Sanjay Basak, a member of the organizing committee of the Durga Puja installment in the city of Murshidabad, told CNN. “That’s why we have depicted Trump as this demon, vanquished by the powerful mother Durga.” Over the years, these installations have tackled everything from the migrant crisis to wars with neighboring Pakistan.
“Osama Bin Laden had been a popular choice post 9/11,” said Sushovan Sircar, a consultant who makes social media reels about Bengali culture and spends his time between New Delhi and Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal state.
After deadly border clashes between India and China in 2020, another installation famously depicted Chinese leader Xi Jinping in the villain’s role, pushing the boundaries of diplomatic commentary through religious art.
“It is in this vein that a pandal (pavilion) decided to depict Trump as an asur (demon), as an ostensible expression of a popular sentiment of the people,” Sircar said.
Source: Here
