An ardent fan of US President Donald J. Trump died of a massive cardiac arrest at Toopran in Medak district on Sunday.
Bussa Krishna (32), a native of Konne village in Bacchannapet mandal of Jangaon district, was worried over Trump’s health as soon as he heard that the US President tested COVID positive.
Four years ago, Krishna turned his modest house in the village into a shrine for Mr. Trump. He installed a life-size statue of Mr. Trump and started worshipping it, after the former appeared in his ‘early morning’ dream.
“Every year on June 14 (Trump’s birthday), Krishna used to perform special poojas and Annadanam in his temple. He used to distribute fruits, sweets and chocolates as well,” a villager told The Hindu.
Krishna, a small-time businessman, lost his wife during child birth.
Recently, he went to Toopran, which is his maternal grandmother’s house. Ever since Mr. Trump tested positive, Krishna went into depression and was not eating and sleeping properly.
Despite his family members counselling him that there was nothing to worry about the President and he would recover soon, he did not change.
“He was not having food or proper sleep,” Krishna’s uncle B. Ashok said.
He said that the ‘superfan’ spent about ₹14 lakh to construct the temple and another ₹80,000 to see Mr. Trump in Ahmedabad during his India visit in February.
“His only dream was to meet Trump, but he left the world without fulfilling it,” another villager said.
Though villagers used to make fun of him for building the Trump temple, Krishna never took their comments seriously and worshipped and admired the President as his god.
On several occasions, he had arguments with villagers and made a point that like others pray to Lord Rama, Krishna and Shiva, he offered his prayers to the President of a superpower.
The devotee, who was popular as ‘Trump Krishna’ always used to carry Mr. Trump’s photograph in his bag, and wore a ‘Trump T-shirt’.
Days before his death, Krishna released an ‘emotional video’ in which he stated that he was praying to other gods for the good health of Mr. Trump.
“He (Mr. Trump) is my god and I love him so much. He must recover very soon,” he said.