In recent days, President Trump’s face has started popping up in odd places around New Delhi. His portrait, splashed across the red, white and blue of an American flag, glares at people from the back of dozens of three-wheeled, motorized rickshaws buzzing all over the Indian capital.
“Happy Birthday America!” the words read. “250 years old.”
The campaign was launched last month by Sergio Gor, the U.S. ambassador to India, who has established a flair for spectacle since he arrived at his post in January. The U.S. Embassy announced the rollout on social media last month, saying “Freedom is on the move … literally!”
Dozens, possibly hundreds, of these freshly decorated vehicles, referred to commonly as autos, have hit the roads. About half of them bear Mr. Trump’s visage, the others feature the Statue of Liberty. But they are not easily spotted on the sprawling city’s choked streets.
“Nobody pays any attention to the ads on autos,” said Sunidhi Katiyar, a dietitian who was sharing a snack at a roadside stall where an American-themed auto dropped me off. She said she would be glad if the drivers benefit. “It’s like a free repair for them.” As for her, “I’m not into politicians, or any of this.”
U.S. embassies around the world have been raising money and drawing up lavish plans to celebrate the Fourth of July after Mr. Trump in December announced it would be “the most spectacular birthday party the world has ever seen.”
Auto rickshaws are a convenient, affordable conveyance for people from all walks of life, and sometimes serve as a visual shorthand for all of India, in its blooming, buzzing confusion.
The synthetic fabric on the back of their canopies is often used as a moving billboard, though usually not for prestigious advertising. Others on Delhi roads this week featured ads for cut-rate fertility clinics and ayurvedic remedies to relieve hemorrhoids.
The U.S. campaign was rolled out ahead of a visit by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is expected to arrive in New Delhi this weekend.
Md. Tayemkhan, who has been driving autos around New Delhi for 25 years, mostly works from the embassy district. He spent two or three hours waiting in line near the U.S. Embassy to have a free Trump-with-flag canopy attached to the vehicle he owns, and was paid 1,500 rupees (almost $16).
“No passengers have said anything about the poster,” said Mr. Tayemkhan, who had a vague awareness of who Mr. Trump is. Some passengers took photos, he said, but added, “Only foreigners do that.”
Raj Kumar Singh, 46, has been driving his own auto for 18 years. His new canopy is the version with the flag and the Statue of Liberty. He said he was not paid for taking it on.
“I’ve met many Americans and I like them,” he said. The flag is a good thing, he was convinced. As for Mr. Trump, he said “I know he is famous, like a big prime minister, but I don’t know much more.” He did not recognize the Statue of Liberty.
Other Delhi folk did. Sunny Jadhav, a young lawyer who works on criminal and constitutional cases, was traveling in one auto rickshaw to a street-side food stall when his eye was caught by another, decorated with the Statue of Liberty. It prompted a conversation about America’s founding fathers, whom he admires, with the friends he was meeting for a meal.
The home screen of Mr. Jadhav’s phone displayed a portrait of Che Guevara. He said his favorite American stories start with “the Union forces’ miraculous defeat of the Confederacy.” To him, the statue “speaks of the liberal core values of the U.S.” and the 250th anniversary testified to “a very large legacy of democracy, even if, sadly, it’s now in deep decline.”
Mr. Jadhav likened Mr. Trump to his own country’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, a relatively popular right-wing leader whose critics accuse him of undermining democracy. Mr. Jadhav said they were both of a similar stripe.
One mile away at a taxi stand outside an upscale market, a young man from the opposite end of India’s political spectrum noticed one of the new U.S.-decorated autos for the first time.
Yuvraj Singh, a spokesman for the youth wing of Mr. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, was visiting from the northern city of Jammu for a wedding. He said “we wish America the best, it’s fine for us to have these signs.”
“We hope that Mr. Trump’s economic position should benefit both sides,” Mr. Singh added, as tariffs and the war in the Persian Gulf have hurt India.
Amid fuel shortages caused by the blockade at the Strait of Hormuz the Indian government last week twice raised the price of the compressed natural gas that fuels Delhi’s fleet of auto rickshaws.
The other Mr. Singh, the auto driver, assured me that Indians have great respect for all American people. Then he asked, “Now, when will you stop this war?”
