How to convert this Python code to bash?

How to convert this Python code to bash?

This is my intricate python code.
>>> a = ' aa '
>>> a.strip()
'aa'
What it does is, something very intricate. It removes the spaces between "
aa ".
But I need the raw shell version of this so I can test it in terminal
without running python.
So far I tried:
a=' aa '
[root@oooo ~]# a=a.strip()
-bash: syntax error near unexpected token `('