Kolkata’s 70-foot Messi statue dismantled amid safety fears and political symbolism

A 70-foot statue of Lionel Messi was lowered from its pedestal in Kolkata’s Lake Town district on Monday, after weeks of inspections revealed the golden figure had become dangerously unstable in windy conditions. Officials from West Bengal’s Public Works Department had already lashed the monument with ropes after residents reported it swaying; by midday, hydraulic cranes and cables were deployed to dismantle the sculpture and load it onto a flatbed truck. The operation, conducted with the precision of a rescue mission, removed a structure that had loomed beside the Eastern Metropolitan bypass since its unveiling in December 2025 during Messi’s much-publicised GOAT Tour of India.

The removal carries unmistakable political overtones. The monument was commissioned by the previous Trinamool Congress government, then led by arch-football-fan Mamata Banerjee, who personally designed a companion football-themed sculpture installed outside the Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Krirangan stadium. That piece was taken down on 23 May, days after the Bharatiya Janata Party assumed power in the state. Viewed from New Delhi, the twin dismantlings form part of a pattern in which newly elected administrations efface the symbolic landscape left by their predecessors. Indian media report that the Messi statue, described by some local residents as ostentatious and now structurally unsound, had been a lightning rod for criticism even before the storms exposed its flaws.

Across Latin America, the incident has been met with bemusement. Argentine outlets note that the effigy, which depicted Messi hoisting the World Cup, had long divided opinion in Kolkata, with one legislator confirming complaints that it was “swaying in the wind” and that the statue was widely considered anti-aesthetic. The fact that a monument to a living Argentine icon was foundering in the subcontinent’s monsoon winds adds a surreal chapter to the global football star’s post-World Cup touring spectacle. No injuries were reported, and the statue is now in government custody, its future location undecided.

The episode exposes the frictions between civic safety, political messaging and the globalisation of sports fandom. While the PWD cited proximal risk to traffic and pedestrians, the removal inevitably reads as a repudiation of the previous government’s cultural priorities. Analysts in London note that such acts of symbolic dismantling, whether of statues or murals, are rarely politically neutral. The gold-painted Messi, now stored in a state warehouse, may yet resurface in a less vulnerable spot; for now, it stands as a monument to the transience of political power — and to the literal instability of idolatry when engineering falls short of ambition.