Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s planned centrepiece G20 speech, world leaders paid their tribute to beloved Indian freedom hero Mahatma Gandhi on Sunday by wading through puddles barefoot.
G20 leaders’ Gandhi tributes in India: The day after a Hindu nationalist thinker shot him dead in January 1948, they cremated the apostle of non-violence at that location, and Modi received his visitors there.
“Several visiting heads of state, including US President Joe Biden, chose to wear felt slippers instead of going barefoot at the location where regular footwear is prohibited, as a sign of respect.”
On the way to the marble platform where an eternal flame honors Gandhi’s legacy, others, including the British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the President of France Emmanuel Macron, joined Modi in removing their shoes and socks.
They stood for a brief moment of silence following the singing of a Hindu devotional hymn before laying wreaths in memory of the peace symbol.
Modi frequently honored Gandhi and also spoke movingly about his legacy and goals.
But the alliance between Modi’s Hindu nationalist government and one of the most revered people of the 20th century is still quite ambiguous.
Following his murder, more than a million people accompanied Gandhi’s body to Raj Ghat memorial complex, making it one of the most revered locations in the capital city of New Delhi.
Since then, it has served as the location for the cremation pyres of India’s leading statesmen and stateswomen.
In front of a picture of Gandhi’s longtime residence in Gujarat, the prime minister’s home state, Sabarmati Ashram, arriving leaders bowed to him as he draped shawls around their necks.
The ashram is a well-liked stop for visiting foreign leaders, and Modi has hosted numerous dignitaries there, including former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and former US President Donald Trump and his wife Melania.
Ideologue of Hindu nationalism
“Nathuram Godse, Gandhi’s assassin, who was execute the year after, has been defend by right-wing groups.”
They believed Gandhi failed to prevent the division of Britain’s colony into India and Pakistan, preventing it from becoming a state controlled by ancient Hindu scriptures.
Modi has never outright criticised Godse or his philosophy, and his administration has promoted the ideas of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, a significant Hindu thinker who was Godse’s guru.
In order to enhance his reputation as an international statesman in front of the national elections next year, the prime minister has a significant personal stake in the success of this year’s G20 summit.
Billboards and bus stops all around the nation have Modi images to promote the meeting of the world’s top economies as a moment of national triumph.
Biden departs for a state visit in Vietnam after the meeting on Sunday.