Mukherjee returns after attending Mandela's memorial service in Johannesburg

President Pranab Mukherjee returned to New Delhi on Wednesday from Johannesburg where he attended a memorial service for South Africa's anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela.

Mukherjee was accompanied on the visit by Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma and two other parliamentarians.

Nearly 100 world leaders, including Mukherjee and U.S. President Barack Obama had on Tuesday come together in Johannesburg in an unprecedented act of homage to Mandela.

Calling him a venerated elder and a great soul, Mukherjee had said that India has no doubt that the world will honour the historic legacy of Mandela who taught the true meaning of forgiveness and reconciliation.

Mukherjee said Mandela was an icon of irreversible social and economic change - the kind of transformation and emancipation that his people had only dreamt of.