NEW DELHI: US president Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat on Tuesday, a day after visiting the Sabarmati Ashram in Gujarat which was the father of the nation’s home between 1917 and 1930.The first couple arrived at 10.30am and spent about 15 minutes there. While the president was dressed in a formal black suit, the first lady was elegantly dressed in a white mid-length dress with flower motifs.They laid a wreath of white carnations and lilies at the samadhi and observed a minute’s silence. After that, Trump signed the visitors’ book with the words: “The American people stand strongly with a sovereign and wonderful India – the vision of the great Mahatma Gandhi –This is a tremendous honour.”The Rajghat Samadhi Committee gifted the president a bust of Mahatma Gandhi.Later, the president also planted a sapling of Pachira aquatica (Malabar shahbalut), a tropical wetland tree which is native to central and south America, at the site.The Rajghat memorial has around 200 trees planted by distinguished visitors. And Trump was only following a long tradition of which his predecessors like Barack Obama , Bill Clinton and George Bush have been part of. Obama had planted a peepal sapling in 2015; Clinton a champa sapling in 2000; and Bush senior a mango sapling as vice-president in 1984.All trees planted by dignitaries are tagged with the name of the person, the country s/he came from, and the date it was planted. Some of the trees planted in the 1950s are still standing tall, say officials.