{"id":263227,"date":"2026-06-03T01:06:58","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T16:06:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/uncategorized\/2026\/06\/03\/69-foot-lionel-messi-statue-dismantled-in-india-amid-safety-fears\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T01:06:59","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T16:06:59","slug":"69-foot-lionel-messi-statue-dismantled-in-india-amid-safety-fears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/politics\/2026\/06\/03\/69-foot-lionel-messi-statue-dismantled-in-india-amid-safety-fears\/","title":{"rendered":"69-Foot Lionel Messi Statue Dismantled in India Amid Safety Fears"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Translation result.<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn-union.tenbizt.com\/contents\/crawler-dev\/image\/2026\/06\/CP-2023-0299\/image-17ed80c3-67d4-4382-8ae8-ed258098ae72.jpeg\" alt=\"Messi\" statue being dismantled. yonhap news agency> A 21-meter (about 69 feet) statue of Argentina\u2019s Lionel Messi \u2014 often described as football\u2019s \u201cgod\u201d \u2014 erected in Kolkata, India, was dismantled over safety concerns. <\/p>\n<p> AFP reported on June 1 that officials took down the statue in West Bengal after residents and witnesses said they had seen it sway in strong winds. <\/p>\n<p> The statue had been installed in December to coincide with Messi\u2019s tour of India. <\/p>\n<p> Safety issues emerged in recent days. <\/p>\n<p> A West Bengal legislator told AFP that residents complained last week the statue had been swaying in the wind, prompting authorities to order its removal. Officials say the statue will be kept in a government warehouse until a new site is selected. <\/p>\n<p> The statue drew renewed attention after the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, scored a victory over the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in last month\u2019s West Bengal assembly election \u2014 a region long regarded as a TMC stronghold. <\/p>\n<p> Local reporting indicates the statue was commissioned under the patronage of Mamata Banerjee, the former West Bengal chief minister and current TMC leader. <\/p>\n<p> The newly appointed BJP sports minister criticized the statue as \u201can eyesore.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A giant statue of Lionel Messi in India was removed due to safety concerns after being swayed by strong winds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/cdn-union.tenbizt.com\/contents\/crawler-dev\/thumbnail\/2026\/06\/CP-2023-0299\/thumb-90ba0590-0121-4f5c-959a-245e5390e1a9.jpg","footnotes":""},"categories":[278093],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-263227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>69-Foot Lionel Messi Statue Dismantled in India Amid Safety Fears<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A giant statue of Lionel Messi in India was removed due to safety concerns after being swayed by strong winds.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link 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