India takes down giant Messi statue over safety concerns

KOLKATA: A giant statue of football superstar Lionel Messi was taken down in India on Monday after it was spotted swaying dangerously in the wind, authorities said.

Hydraulic cranes and ropes were used to dismantle the 21-metre (70-foot) sculpture in Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal state, before it was taken away on an open-top flatbed truck, AFP journalists saw.

“The statue was removed on Monday afternoon after locals complained it was swaying in the wind,” state lawmaker Sharadwat Mukherjee told AFP.

Mukherjee said the statue would be kept in a government warehouse while authorities decide on a new location.

The gold-coloured statue, depicting the 38-year-old Argentina and Inter Miami star lifting the World Cup trophy, was unveiled in December during Messi’s much-publicised GOAT tour of India.

Messi will captain Argentina at the upcoming World Cup, to be co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The statue drew scrutiny as political power shifted in West Bengal, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party swept into office last month after defeating the opposition Trinamool Congress (TMC).

The statue was reportedly designed under the patronage of former chief minister and TMC leader Mamata Banerjee, and was criticised by the new BJP sports minister Nisith Pramanik as “unsightly”.

India, a nation of 1.4 billion people, is a cricket powerhouse but has long struggled on the international football stage, and is 142nd in the FIFA rankings.

Football, however, is the country’s second-favourite sport, according to recent research by data company Nielsen.