Belgian PM's chocolate India Gate melts en route, but diplomacy gets a sweet ending

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.

Key points

• Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever had planned to present Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the sweet replica on Friday during their bilateral session.
• "But unlike the real India Gate, which has stood for almost a century, the chocolate version didn't even survive the journey to India."
• "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 remarked.
• De Wever remarked the chocolate replica deliberately enlarged the section of the inscription commemorating Indian soldiers who fought and died in Flanders Fields.
• De Wever remarked the monument represented the shared history and future partnership between India and Belgium.

Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever had planned to present Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the sweet replica on Friday during their bilateral session. 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 remarked.

For context, 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 obtain it to Modi "next time."

De Wever had additionally offered a light-hearted diplomatic postscript: "Chocolate is excellent for diplomacy, but not excellent for diplomatic travel, we noticed."

Notably, the choice of India Gate was deliberate. De Wever remarked the monument represented the shared history and future partnership between India and Belgium. When Indian troops fought on the Western Front, including in Belgium's Flanders region, that history goes back to the First World War. 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.

While the real India Gate has stood for almost a century, its chocolate replica had a rather shorter diplomatic career, so. It broke on the way here. But on Saturday, at least, it finally created it to the unveiling.

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For now, belgian PM' s chocolate India Gate melts en route, but diplomacy gets a remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.