Mahatma Gandhi returned to India from South Africa.

On 9 January 1915, at the request of Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Mohan Das Karamchand Gandhi returned to India after over 20 years of activism in South Africa.

C. F. Andrews, a close friend and associate of both Gandhi and Gokhale, helped convey Gokhale’s request.

Pravasi Bharatiya Divas was officially instituted in 2003 to commemorate this date.