Describing the transformation underway in India as "one of the most far-reaching revolutions of this century", Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has asked non-resident Indians to participate in "this adventure".
Speaking at a reception hosted in his honour by Indian High Commissioner Satyabrata Pal in Durban on Saturday night, the Prime Minister said, "The transformation underway in India is, in my opinion, one of the most far-reaching revolutions of this century.
"More than a billion people are seeking their salvation within the framework of an open society and an open economy,"
he said and remarked that the people in India were proud of the achievements of NRIs worldwide.
Having a word of praise for the people of Indian origin here in their efforts to build a new South Africa, the Prime
Minister expressed hope that he was confident that they would do so with the diligence, creativity and enterprise that
had become the hallmarks of the Indian diaspora across the world.
He said India was proud of its remarkable achievement in sustaining the eight per cent growth of its economy. The
buoyancy and vitality of the Indian economy was a measure of the creativity of the people, which was unleashed after
full-scale economic reforms undertaken in the 1990s.
"While doing so we are engaged in a massive task of fulfilling the basic needs of the teeming millions," he said.
Recalling that India had taken up the issue of apartheid even before it attained independence, the prime minister said
that in 1946, India became the first country in the world to demand from the United Nations that a collective stand be
taken against the repressive system.
In 1967, the African National Congress opened its first office in Asia in New Delhi, he said.
"It was to this land of discrimination that Mahatma Gandhi came. He returned home an enlightened soul," he said,
adding, "We remained in the forefront of the worldwide struggle against apartheid.
"At every level, be it political, economic or diplomatic, we extended our support to the people of South Africa in their historic struggle for freedom and democracy. Our late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi summed up the mood of the Indian people by delcaring that the drumbeats of the Africans for freedom and equality have become our heartbeats," he said.