New Delhi, Dec 6 (IANS): The Congress Working Committee Friday expressed grief over the death of anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela who passed away in Johannesburg, and offered sympathies to the people of South Africa, a statement said Friday.

"In the passing away of Nelson Mandela the people of India feel bereaved as if they had lost their own leader, and one among them," a resolution passed at the Congress Working Committee meeting said.

"The CWC expresses deepest sympathies to the people of South Africa and the African National Congress and to the family of the departed leader," it read.

The resolution noted that "India's struggle for Independence was a struggle for freedom, not only for the people of India but for all oppressed people of the world, especially the people of South Africa."

The Congress said it "supported the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa" and noted that it inspired the "founding of the African National Congress, whose leaders acknowledged the contribution made by Indian leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru in the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa."