Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday greeted the people of South Africa on their Freedom Day, and remembered anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela who he said "strived to bring a better tomorrow for his people".
"Greetings to my sisters and brothers of South Africa on Freedom Day. This is a day that celebrates hope and optimism," he said in a statement.
"On Freedom Day we remember the beloved Madiba, an inspiration and a harbinger of change who strived to bring a better tomorrow for his people," Modi said.
Freedom Day is an annual celebration of South Africa's first non-racial democratic elections of 1994.