Dr Essop Pahad, ex-minister in the Presidency of South Africa, visited the Nehru Heritage Centre in Dehradun and paid floral tribute to the first PM of the country while remembering his contribution in the realm of anti-colonial struggle on Friday.
Pahad is of Indian origin as his ancestors were from Surat, Gujarat. He was a leader of African National Congress, which played a significant role during the freedom struggle against colonial rule in South Africa. He visited (New Delhi) India recently to attend the 125 birth anniversary of Nehru.
Along with Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee chief Kishore Upadhyaya, Rajpur Road MlA Rajkumar, Pahad reached the Nehru Heritage Centre at Nehru Ward, Old Jail campus and paid tributes to Nehru. He said that he had reached Dehradun to pay tribute to Nehru as he had been incarcerated here four times in course of India’s struggle for freedom.
Mahatama Gandhi and Nehru together have been beacons of inspiration for him and other African leaders as well. South African leader Nelson Mandela and other African leaders used to draw inspiration from them too.
Pahad was instrumental in providing equal rights to the Indian settlers with the black population and giving the Indian a ‘black’ status in the African Constitution. It should be mentioned here that Nehru was put in Dehradun-based jails four times during the freedom struggle and he had written some parts of The Discovery of India in the jails.