World will honour historic legacy of Nelson Mandela: Pranab
Johannesburg: President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday said India has no doubt that the world will honour the historic legacy of Nelson Mandela who taught the true meaning of forgiveness and reconciliation.
Accompanied by a high-level delegation including UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj, the President flew in early this morning to join South Africa in paying homage to Madiba, as Mandela was affectionately called.
For India, Mukherjee said, the passing away of Mandela represents the departure of the venerated elder, a great soul.
“We pray for his eternal peace. Madiba lived a life of sacrifice and privation as he pursued a seemingly impossible goal for his people – and the world is richer for his legacy,” he said.
“We, in India, have long admired him – and all that he stood for – and we will always cherish his friendship and love for our people,” he said.
The President described Mandela as a visionary who epitomised and an uncommon humaneness that inspired all of mankind.
“We have no doubt that the world will honour the historic legacy of Madiba, one of the most influential personalities of our century, who taught the world the true meaning of forgiveness and reconciliation – and steered South Africans onto the path of building a truly Rainbow Nation,” he said.
Mukherjee said Mandela was an icon of irreversible social and economic change – the kind of transformation and emancipation that his people had only dreamt of.
“A towering personality of great compassion and wisdom, he guided his nation, bruised by decades of apartheid and violence, to embrace his simple message of tolerance and harmonious co-existence.
“Indeed, his life and struggles – which represented ‘hope’ for the downtrodden in South Africa and all over the world, remind us of the principles that the father of our Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, stood for,” he said.
Mukherjee said in the face of the severest persecution, punishment and relentless oppression, Mandela continued his non-violent struggle with dignity and pride, refusing to be intimidated.
“He never diminished his commitment to his kind of ‘satyagraha’ against injustice and inequality. His stoic determination, patience and magnanimity reminded us, in India, of the revolutionary methods of Mahatma Gandhi,” he said.
He said it was, therefore, an honour for Indians to confer upon Mandela the highest civilian award — Bharat Ratna — when he visited India in 1990. He received an unprecedented welcome and was felicitated in Delhi and Calcutta.
The President recalled that in 1995, when he visited India as the first President of post apartheid Africa, Mandela visited Gandhiji’s Sabarmati Ashram and said that it was for him a homecoming, a pilgrimage.
