Presidential elections in the United States are less than two weeks away and both Republicans and Democrats are trying their best to convince the voters. From the Democrats, Indian origin Kamala Harris is the vice presidential nominee and is trying to woo the Indian-American voters through her India connections. However, one such attempt has landed her into controversy after a photo of her was tweeted showing her as Goddess Durga.
The picture was shared by Kamala's niece Meena Harris on microblogging website Twitter and showed Harris as the Goddes Durga killing the US President Donald Trump, who was depicted as the demon Mahishasur.
The photo resulted in outrage from Hindu groups in America who demanded an apology from Meena for tweeting the 'offensive' image. The tweet was later deleted.
In the tweet, Meena had shared the photo with a caption, "I am actually speechless, other than to say that the first day of Navaratri was LIT."
Presidential nominee Joe Biden was also shown in the image as the Lion, the 'vahana' (vehicle) of the goddess.
"Your tweeting a caricature of the feminine divine, Maa Durga, with faces superimposed, deeply aggrieved many Hindus globally," tweeted Suhag A Shukla of Hindu American Foundation.
"If you think you are going to win Hindu votes by mocking us, think again. This image is highly offensive and insulting to Hindus. Our Divinities are NOT cultural curios for you to mock and trivialise. And you delete without an apology?" noted author Shefali Vaidya said in a tweet.
Notably, both Kamala and Biden had greeted the Hindu community in the US on the first day of Navratri a few days ago.
