The nation remembered former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on her 94th birth anniversary with President Pratibha Patil and Vice President Hamid Ansari among prominent personalities who paid rich tributes to the leader on Saturday.
The leaders offered floral tributes at her memorial Shakti Sthal on the banks of Yamuna.
Besides Patil and Ansari, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi, Union Ministers Ghulam Nabi Azad, Kamal Nath, Sushil Kumar Shinde and Krishna Tirath and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia were among those who visited the memorial.
Ms Gandhi, born on 19th November, 1917 in the politically influential Nehru family, was the first woman Prime Minister of India.
Her father Jawaharlal Nehru was a pivotal figure in the Indian independence movement and the first Prime Minister of independent India.
After Nehru’s death in 1964, she became a Rajya Sabha member and was inducted in Lal Bahadur Shastri’s cabinet as Minister of Information and Broadcasting.
She held three consecutive terms as Prime Minister from 1966 to 1977. The Congress leader was assassinated on 31st October, 1984.
Puducherry Chief Minister N Rangasamy also paid floral tributes at the statue of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in Puducherry on Saturday and administered national integration pledge.
Speaker V Sabapathy, ministers and Deputy Speaker T P R Selvam volunteers different wings of the ruling AINRC were among those who took the pledge.
Opposition Congress also celebrated the birth anniversary of Gandhi at the PCC office and garlanded her statue.