World leaders walked 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 G20 programme.

Modi welcomed his guests to the site where the apostle of non-violence was cremated in January 1948, the day 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.

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

Modi has regularly paid respect to Gandhi and spoken movingly about his ideals and legacy.

But the relationship between Modi’s Hindu nationalist ruling party and one of the 20th century’s most venerated figures remains deeply ambivalent.

The Raj Ghat memorial complex is one of the most hallowed spaces in the capital New Delhi, and more than a million people escorted Gandhi’s body as it was transported there after his assassination.

In the decades since, it has hosted the funeral pyres of India’s top statesmen and women.

Arriving leaders bowed before Modi as he hung shawls around their necks in front of a photograph of Sabarmati Ashram, a long-term residence of Gandhi’s in the prime minister’s home state of Gujarat.