My letters - South Africa's parliament will rise from its ashes

This is in reference to Gopalkrishna Gandhi's South Africa's parliament will rise from its ashes, (January, 7). 
On Sunday, fire broke out and entirely destroyed South Africa's parliament in Cape Town. A suspect has been apprehended, charged, and put on trial. There are many questions like, what the cause of the fire was, who had done this, however, the ultimate goal is not to investigate about this, well that surely needs to be done, however, the primary target is to rebuild and develop the edifice (National assembly/parliament house) back. South Africa's parliament house in Cape town is much more than just a building augmented later to house the National assembly. It is a model for democracy, a sign of optimism in the face of despair, atonement in the face of hubris, and vision in the face of stagnation. It is a country that we have followed and held up as an example of how to achieve democracy. The constitutional guarantees, such as not treating anyone as a demon, oppressors and oppressed sitting together to design the constitution, right to freedom, security, freedom from torture and humiliating treatment, right to privacy, etc. are phenomenal promises given to every citizen of South Africa. South Africa's freedom movement has seen various visionaries like Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Steve Biko who always envisioned South Africa as a glowing rainbow nation and have worked relentlessly to achieve it. We must help South Africa reconstruct it back.

In this time of external and internal turmoil, India must express solidarity with South Africa's parliament. We are two parliamentary democracies united in one freedom, and it is our responsibility to provide guidance and expertise in the restoration of the structure, libraries, and archives.
Let us make South Africa's parliament building rise from the ashes like a phoenix, so that it can continue to reflect the cultural and moral ethos that it symbolised following the country's struggle against apartheid. 

One statement by Nelson Mandela that really touched me was - The first National assembly of South Africa had seen many indian-origin south africans becoming MPs and ministers. Nelson Mandela was questioned by several ANC leaders about why he had so many Indian MPs and ministers (which was out of proportion to their numbers in the population of South Africa). His reply was, "The Indians in the parliament symbolize their contribution to the struggle, not their proportion to the population in South Africa. "

With this upbeat spirit, let us all, as Indians, help South Africa rebuild its parliament and keep its flame burning brightly, always serving as an inspiration to all nations.