Wet feet dampen G20 leaders’ Gandhi tributes in India

World leaders had to walk barefoot through puddles Sunday to pay their respects to revered Indian independence hero Mahatma Gandhi, after monsoon downpours dampened Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s set-piece Group of 20 program.

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

U.S. 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.