NEW DELHI: The Belgian chocolate India Gate that missed a diplomatic ceremony after melting in transit from Belgium to India was finally unveiled on Saturday. Well, sort of.
Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever had planned to present Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the sweet replica on Friday during their bilateral meeting. But the sculpture proved much less durable than the monument it recreated.
“I had actually planned to present to Prime Minister Modi a fitting gift, a sculpture of India Gate entirely made out of the best Belgian chocolates,” De Wever had said.
“But unlike the real India Gate, which has stood for almost a century, the chocolate version didn't even survive the journey to India.”
The Belgian Embassy in New Delhi had earlier on Saturday shared a photograph of the broken creation on X, saying De Wever was still determined to get it to Modi “next time.”
“We have a back-up in Belgium, and one way or another, I will get it to Prime Minister Modi in one piece,” he had said.
De Wever had also offered a light-hearted diplomatic postscript: “Chocolate is excellent for diplomacy, but not excellent for diplomatic travel, we noticed.”
The choice of India Gate was deliberate. De Wever said the monument represented the shared history and future partnership between India and Belgium. That history goes back to the First World War, when Indian troops fought on the Western Front, including in Belgium’s Flanders region. Around 138,000 soldiers from India were sent to Europe during the war.
India Gate was designed by British architect Edwin Lutyens and built in New Delhi as a memorial to soldiers of British India who died in wars between 1914 and 1919. The 42-metre-high sandstone arch remains one of the capital’s most recognisable landmarks.
De Wever said the chocolate replica deliberately enlarged the section of the inscription commemorating Indian soldiers who fought and died in Flanders Fields.
So, while the real India Gate has stood for nearly a century, its chocolate replica had a rather shorter diplomatic career. It broke on the way here. But on Saturday, at least, it finally made it to the unveiling.
