New Delhi, Jul 18: Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and former party president Sonia Gandhi today paid tributes to anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela on his 100th birth anniversary and recalled the strong historic bonds between their party and South Africa's African National Congress.

Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi wrote separate letters to the President of the African National Congress, Cyril Ramaphosa, and hailed Mandela's moral strength and leadership.

"I will always cherish the memories of my meeting with Madiba. We spoke at length about the need for a nation to forgive its oppressors and to heal, but to never forget the oppression unleashed on it," Rahul Gandhi wrote in his letter to Ramaphosa.

Rahul Gandhi said that Mandela had told him that it was India's freedom struggle and the life of Mahatma Gandhi that had helped him shape his beliefs.

Sonia Gandhi, in her letter, wrote, "Nelson Mandela provided moral strength and guidance at a time when the world was confronted with a crisis of leadership."

Recalling her meeting with Mandela, she said it was an immense privilege for her to meet the anti-apartheid icon and experience his charisma. Mandela died in 2013 at the age of 95. He helped South Africa break the practice of racial segregation and do away with white minority rule.

Imprisoned for nearly three decades for his fight against racial segregation, Mandela was freed in 1990 and quickly set about working to unite the nation through forgiveness and reconciliation, becoming South Africa's first black president.

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