Onlykashmir.in News Desk
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has consistently used his diplomatic visits across the world to pay homage to global icons of peace, justice and universal brotherhood, carrying India’s message of non-violence and civilisational values to nations far beyond its borders. From Buenos Aires to Hiroshima, from Johannesburg to Kyiv, the Prime Minister has made it a hallmark of his state visits to honour leaders and thinkers whose legacies transcend national boundaries.
Among the most prominent expressions of this commitment was Modi’s tribute on July 5, 2025, when he paid his respects at the bust of Mahatma Gandhi in Buenos Aires during a bilateral state visit to Argentina. The visit, which also included homage to Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, reinforced India’s deep cultural and philosophical connections with South America. Two days earlier, on July 3, 2025, the Prime Minister had paid homage to Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s founding President, at the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park in Accra, acknowledging the Ghanaian statesman’s historic role in African independence and his alignment with the Non-Aligned Movement that India had co-founded.
In March 2025, during an official visit to Mauritius, Modi paid tribute to Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, the founding father and first Prime Minister of Mauritius, as well as to Sir Anerood Jugnauth, reflecting India’s close and enduring ties with the island nation. In 2024, during his visit to Guyana in November, Modi honoured Mahatma Gandhi at a statue in Georgetown’s Promenade Garden. Days earlier, in August, he had paid homage at a Gandhi statue in Kyiv, a gesture that carried particular weight given the ongoing conflict in the region and India’s consistent advocacy for dialogue and peace.
Modi’s tribute to Mahatma Gandhi at the United Nations Headquarters in June 2023 was accompanied by a message on X emphasising Gandhi’s enduring relevance as a beacon of peace, non-violence and harmony. That same year, in May, he unveiled a bust of Mahatma Gandhi in Hiroshima, Japan, gifted by the Government of India as a symbol of friendship and shared memory, in a city synonymous with the catastrophic consequences of war.
Earlier tributes have included Modi’s attendance at the state funeral of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in September 2022 and his visit to the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg in 2016, where he also honoured the legacies of both Gandhi and Mandela at Constitutional Hill. In 2015, he attended the funeral of Lee Kuan Yew, the founding father of modern Singapore. In 2019, he unveiled a Gandhi bust at Yonsei University in Seoul, saying Gandhi’s ideals offer pathways through the global challenges of terrorism and climate change.
