Wet feet dampen G20 leaders’ Gandhi tributes

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi (C), US President Joe Biden (L) along with world leaders arrive to pay their respect at the Mahatma Gandhi memorial at Raj Ghat on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi on September 10, 2023. (Photo by PIB / Agence France-Presse)

NEW DELHI — World leaders walked barefoot through puddles on Sunday to pay their respects to revered Indian independence hero Mahatma Gandhi, after monsoon downpours dampened Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s set-piece G20 program.

Modi welcomed his guests to the site, where the apostle of nonviolence was cremated in 1948 after he was gunned down by a Hindu nationalist ideologue.

US President Joe Biden was among several visiting heads of state to opt for felt slippers instead of going unshod at the site, where normal footwear is forbidden as a mark of respect.

Others including British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and French President Emmanuel Macron joined Modi in shedding their socks and shoes on the walk to the marble plinth where an eternal flame commemorates Gandhi’s memory.

Personal investment

After a rendition of a Hindu devotional hymn, they stood for a moment’s silence before leaving wreaths to honor the peace icon.

The prime minister has a heavy personal investment in the success of this year’s G20 summit, which he has used to burnish his image as an international statesman ahead of national elections next year.

Images of Modi have adorned billboards and bus stops around the country to tout the gathering of the world’s top economies as a moment of national triumph.