Speaker Meira Kumar remembered Mandela as a legendary hero and said his ideals of human rights and equality would live on as "our guiding light". Soon after her obituary, the House stood up to observe a minute's silence in the memory of the leader.
Earlier, leader of the House Sushilkumar Shinde initiated the obituary references, underlining the similarities between Mandela and Gandhiji in that they both led a non-violent struggle for freedom, justice and equality. He said that his protracted battle against illness in his final years was just like his long struggle against apartheid that confined him to prison for 27 years. "I remember visiting his prison in Robben Island in South Africa...It was sad to see how the 6 ft-tall Mandela lived all these years in a 5-foot cell," he said.
Leader of the opposition Sushma Swaraj too joined in the tributes, marvelling how Mandela maintained his calm and poise through his incarceration and remained humble even when he became President of South Africa after his release.
"The world has lost a tall leader," she said.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi said the world would miss the luminous presence and radiant spirit of Nelson Mandela.
"Mandela redefined the meaning of courage, sacrifice, and forgiveness. Over the 10,000 days he spent in a brutal prison, sacrificing 27 years of his life for the freedom of his people, his courage never wavered, nor did his conviction that his cause was just and true. He emerged from his long incarceration with not a trace of bitterness or vengeance in his heart, only a renewed determination to erase the lethal legacy of apartheid, break down the barriers of hatred and distrust between whites and blacks," she told the Lok Sabha.
Sonia said Mandela was a beloved figure in India and was honoured with the Bharat Ratna because "we loved and revered him".
The Left parties too said the world had become poorer with Mandela's demise. While Bimal Roy said the loss was as much for India as for South Aftica, Basudeb Acharia said his long fight against injustice should serve as inspiration for those struggling to end social discrimination in India.
Regional parties like SP, BSP, JD(U), DMK, AIADMK and BJD too remembered Mandela for his fight against apartheid and injustice. SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav said Mandela idolised Gandhiji and, like him, struggled through his life against discrimination.
BSP's Dara Singh Chouhan likened Mandela to B R Ambedkar, who fought against caste discrimination. JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav invoked Mandela's fight against apartheid to seek a pledge from Indians to follow his example and fight all forms of injustice.
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