Delhi Hindu group offers prayers for Trump's safety

By Ainnie Arif

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A Hindu group that marks Donald Trump's birthday each year in Delhi offered prayers for his safety on Tuesday following the assassination attempt on him, saying he is the only leader who could rid the world of "radical Islam".

Attended by almost 50 people, the ceremony performed by the Hindu Sena (Hindu Army), a fringe group, saw an idol of Baglamukhi, a goddess associated with power and protection, placed alongside a poster of the former U.S. president, with the words "Long Live Trump" printed on it.

The priests applied a holy vermillion mark on the forehead of Trump's image and made offerings to a fire, praying for his long life. The rituals will continue for seven days.

The group has celebrated Trump's birthday each year since he entered politics, with a cake, party hats and balloons. It also held fire rituals before the previous two U.S. presidential elections.

"Only Trump as a global leader has the courage to speak against radical Islam and its followers," said Ved Murtinand Saraswati, one of the priests leading the rituals on Tuesday.

The group made headlines in India in January after it said it defaced signs on a road in the capital named after Babur, the founder of the Mughal empire. Hindu groups consider Muslim Mughals as invaders who subjugated Hindus and thrust Islam upon them and do not deserve to be commemorated.

The group's members say they are not associated with any political party. Their website says they work for the "welfare and upliftment" of the Hindu community.

India is home to an estimated 200 million Muslims, the world's third-largest Muslim population.

Muslim community leaders, opposition politicians and rights groups say that minority Muslims in the Hindu-majority country have been targeted and discriminated against since Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in 2014.

Modi and BJP deny the charges and say they work for the progress of all communities.

(Reporting by Ainnie Arif; Writing by Sakshi Dayal; Editing by YP Rajesh and Alison Williams)