JOHANNESBURG, Aug 11 : India and South Africa share a special relationship that has potential at every level, the African nation’s newly appointed High Commissioner to India Anil Sooklal has said, expressing hope that the two countries can play an important role in providing leadership on the global stage.
Sooklal, the first person of Indian-origin to be appointed South Africa’s High Commissioner to India, made the remarks at an event here hosted to felicitate his appointment.
“South Africa and India have a special relationship, and I feel extremely privileged and indeed very lucky that I have been chosen to represent my country in India at one of the most interesting times in the history of our relationship,” Sooklal said.
He said the “special relationship” was highlighted by late President Nelson Mandela, who, after becoming South Africa’s first democratically elected leader, visited India “not only to thank the government of India but the people of India for the important role they played (in leading the international fight against apartheid).”
Asserting that India and South Africa played an important role in addressing the world’s challenges, Sooklal said, “As vibrant democracies, as countries that believe in fundamental freedom and human rights, I believe we can provide leadership on the global stage.”
“We have a common destiny in ensuring that we lift this (bilateral) relationship to the rightful level it should be at. It is not there yet,” he said at the gathering at the Swaminarayan Mandir in the suburb of Mayfair.
“This relationship has so much potential at every level, and I am hopeful and very confident that the building of the mandir here in Johannesburg is going to be a critical selling point in this relationship,” he said, referring to the largest mandir and complex in the southern hemisphere being constructed in the suburb of North Riding in Johannesburg.
“This can become an important melting pot of inter-cultural connections between our two continents – Africa and Asia,” he said, adding that it would serve as a similar symbol of hope in an age of global crises.
Sooklal recounted his descendence from Indians who came to South Africa in 1893 to work as indentured labourers on the sugarcane plantations owned by white farmers under trying conditions akin to slavery.
Addressing the event, Sadhu Brahmavihari of the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha said that former President APJ Abdul Kalam would have been elated at Sooklal’s appointment.
“Dr Kalam always told me he loved South Africa. He told me that the greatest good will happen to both nations when a man of Indian origin is placed in India as the Ambassador of South Africa,” Brahmavihari said. (PTI)
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