Telangana man worships photo of Donald Trump every day

For Bussa Krishna, US President Donald Trump is no less than a god.

The 31-year-old small farmer from the remote Konne village in Telangana’s Jangaon district has installed a photograph of Trump in his puja room and worships it every day along with other Hindu gods. He offers vermillion, turmeric, flowers and at the end of his prayer does “aarti” to the photograph.

The idea of worshipping the US president struck Krishna after Srinivas Kuchibhotla, a software engineer from the state, was killed by a US navy veteran in an alleged act of hate crime in February last year.

“I was very much pained at the incident. I thought the only way the US president and his people could understand the greatness of Indians is to display our love and affection towards them. That is why I started worshipping Trump with a hope that the prayers would reach him one day,” he said.

“I believe Indians can win over anyone with their spiritual powers. When you cannot take on a mighty person directly, you can win over him with love and worship and that is what I am doing,” he added.

Bussa Krishna has a corner dedicated to US president Donald Trump’s photograph in his home. (HT Photo)

Worshipping politicians is not new to Indians as followers across the country have given divine status to political leaders as well as movie stars by erecting their statues and building temples to them.

Fans of late movie star turned chief minister MG Ramachandran have built several temples and shrines in neighbouring Tamil Nadu. His protege and late AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa was also worshipped as a goddess and called Amma or mother by many of her supporters.

Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a temple dedicated to him in Rajkot, a city his home state of Gujarat. He was later removed after he expressed his disapproval, saying he was appalled.

Ironically, Krishna does not know much about Trump.

“I only know that he is the most strong and invincible leader in the world. What I liked about him was his bold attitude. Since he took part in World Wrestling Federation (WWF) competitions, he must be very powerful,” the school dropout said.

Krishna regularly posts photographs of him worshipping the US president on his Facebook page – Krish Raj.

“Nobody took me seriously and some people even called me a mad fellow, wondering how prayers in a remote village would reach Trump. But I have a strong faith in what I am doing,” he said.

Krishna even claimed that he received a message from Trump on Twitter on June 19.

“Krish from India is a very close friend of mine; out of the billions and billions of Indians, he is my favourite. He’s able to channel dragon energy from worshipping my photos; may be low-energy Jeb Bush should give it a try; I’d be happy send him a pic! See you soon Krish!” the message read.

It could not be independently verified whether the message was genuine but Krishna was on cloud nine.

“I am extremely happy to receive a message from Trump. I am sure he will remember me if he comes to India,” he said.

First Published: Jun 21, 2018 19:15 IST