Christian by faith, why James Marape touched PM Modi’s feet, a Guv of a PNG province explains

Papua New Guinea's prime minister, James Marape, warned the perpetrators 'your time is up'(Photo: AFP)

SNS | New Delhi | May 22, 2023  |  Papua New Guinea:  Not just Marape, 2 other members of Marape cabinet also touched PM Modi’s feet

After the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea PNG James Marape touched Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s feet, his gesture created a stir in India. People are asking who is James Marape, and what is his faith and ethnicity. Is there anything more to this gesture of Marape?

The Governor of West New Britain Province of Papua New Guinea Sasindran Muthuvel deconstructs the gesture of Marape. Muthuvel said, “Genuflecting, by touching an elderly’s knee or feet is an old tradition in the South-western Pacific country. And it is nothing new in our country. And that is what Marape did despite being a Christian.”

52-year-old Marape is younger than PM Modi, probably the reason why he touched the Indian PM’s feet. Not just Marape, a close look at the footage of PM Modi’s arrival shows that while welcoming two other members of the Marape cabinet who were in a queue also touched PM Modi’s feet as he approached them.

Marape comes from the Huli tribe, one of PNG’s largest ethnic groups. His father was a Seventh-day Adventist pastor (Adventist Protestants believe that God created the earth in six days and observed the seventh day as a day of rest).

Marape became the Prime Minister of PNG in May 2019. Earlier he held cabinet positions as education minister from 2008 to 2011 and minister of finance in from 2012 to 2019).

The PM Modi-Marape meeting is definitely being seen as a booster of trade between the two countries.  And this was apparent after PM Modi tweeted, “James Marape and I had very productive talks, covering the full range of bilateral relations between India and Papua New Guinea. We discussed ways to augment cooperation in commerce, technology, healthcare, and in addressing climate change.”

Already, the export items from India to PNG include textiles, pharmaceuticals, food items, surgical items, machinery & equipment, manufactured goods, washing powder, paper pulp, etc. The import from PNG to India includes gold, marine products, timber, copper ores & concentrates, coffee, cocoa, and vanilla.