About a hundred motorized rickshaws in the crowded streets of India’s capital, New Delhi, are sporting banners with President Donald Trump’s face, an American flag, and the message “Happy Birthday America! 250 Years Old.”
The backs of New Delhi’s three-wheeled auto-rickshaws, also known as “tuk tuks” after the characteristic sputtering sound of their engines, are frequently rented out for advertising banners.
This particular ad campaign was created by the U.S. Embassy to India as part of the Freedom 250 campaign for America’s 250th birthday celebration, and rolled out in mid-April by Ambassador Sergio Gor.
Gor said the campaign will include “iconic American images that will be rolled out across the city to mark the start of this special journey.” Not all of them feature President Trump; others include the Statue of Liberty and larger images of the American flag.
“Freedom is on the move… literally!” U.S. Embassy India said in its announcement of the campaign. “Catch them if you can — they’ll be popping up all over Delhi soon.”
The Associated Press (AP) interviewed some tuk tuk drivers on Wednesday who were bemused by the ad campaign for America’s birthday. One said he only accepted the Trump poster because campaign organizers offered him a “packet of tea.” Another said he was only vaguely aware of who Donald Trump is, but he needed a new canopy for his tuk tuk, so he accepted the poster.
Some rickshaw drivers and passengers told the left-wing newspaper New York Times (NYT) on Tuesday that the Freedom 250 posters were unlikely to be noticed one way or the other because India’s roads are so clogged with vehicles and passengers generally tune out the sea of images and colors on the rickshaws around them.
On the other hand, a driver named Raj Kumar Singh said he was happy to have the Statue of Liberty and American flag on his vehicle, even though he was not entirely certain what the Statue of Liberty was and knew only that Trump is “famous, like a big prime minister.”
“I’ve met many Americans and I like them,” Singh said, hoping that his new tuk tuk canopy would please them.
The NYT found that Indians who are politically aligned with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his BJP party seemed most appreciative of the Freedom 250 billboards, often remarking on the similarities between Modi and Trump and expressing interest in American history — even though relations between India and the U.S. have been strained over tariffs, Trump’s demands for India to stop buying Russian oil, the Strait of Hormuz crisis, and more recently Trump’s criticism of Indian migrants to the United States.