Indian Hindu nationalists threw a 70th birthday party for Donald Trump, and it was bizarre


The conventional wisdom in this very unconventional presidential election is that the world is terrified of a President Trump. But some of Donald Trump's biggest fans are actually a group of right-wing Hindu nationalists in India, and on Tuesday, members of Hindu Sena celebrated Trump's 70th birthday in the heart of New Delhi with a 15-pound cake, balloons, music, a life-size poster of Trump holding a hunting rifle, and a dash of anti-Islamic fervor. After singing "Happy Birthday," Hindu Sena founder Vishnu Gupta held a piece of cake up to Trump's mouth, as if the two were getting married.
Hindu Sena first gained attention by holding a havan, or public prayer, to the Hindu gods Shiva and Hanuman for Trump's electoral success — "The whole world is screaming because of Islamic terrorism," Gupta said. "If anybody can save humanity, it is Donald Trump" — and as exotic as this birthday celebration may seem, it is at least more familiar to Trump and his American supporters than Hindu chants and incense. Trump's momentous birthday was sort of drowned out in the U.S. by the Orlando nightclub mass shooting, and Trump's response to it, so it's nice that his fans were thoughtful enough to throw him a party in India. You can watch scenes from the unusual party in the Wall Street Journal report below. Peter Weber
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.