PM to visit SA on 100 years of Satyagraha

Manmohan Singh will revisit places associated with Gandhi's struggle against persecution of indentured labourers of Indian origin.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will go to South Africa on October 1 to launch the year-long celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of Satyagraha, the passive resistance movement pioneered by Mahatma Gandhi against colonial oppression.

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Manmohan Singh will go on a two-day visit to Durban, Johannesburg and Pretoria and revisit places associated with Gandhi's struggle against persecution of indentured labourers of Indian origin in South Africa.

A global celebration on Satyagraha, a multimedia presentation on Gandhi and his non-violent movement and a dance-drama on the man that India reveres as the Father of the Nation are some of the events being planned for this historic event.

Gandhi's birth anniversary falls on October 2.

Prominent Gandhian scholars and activists will be invited for these celebratory events to be held here and in various cities of South Africa, including Johannesburg, over the next year.

Manmohan Singh will be going to South Africa a fortnight after attending the summit of IBSA - a regional grouping that comprises India, South, Africa and Brazil - conclave in Brasilia.

"It's a huge momentous year for India and South Africa relations. India had given an ordinary lawyer called MK Gandhi to South Africa, but we gave back Mahatma to India," South African High Commissioner Francis Moloi said.