Indira Gandhi remembered on 27th death anniversary

NEW DELHI:The country fondly remembered former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on her 27th death anniversary on Monday with President Pratibha Patil leading the nation in paying rich tributes to the departed leader.

Patil paid floral tributes at Shakti Sthal, the memorial of Gandhi, here this morning.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were also present on the occasion.

Delhi Lt Governor Tejinder Khanna, Union Ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh, Kamal Nath, K V Thomas, N Narayana Swamy and Krishna Tirath and senior Congress leaders Motilal Vohra, Manishankar Aiyar were also present.

Devotional songs were played at the venue as the dignitaries sat at Shakti Sthal after paying tributes to the late leader. A speech by Indira Gandhi was also played on the occasion.

The former prime minister was assassinated by her bodyguards on October 31, 1984, the same year when she had launched 'Operation Blue Star' to crush secessionist movement in Punjab and sent troops into the Golden Temple of Amritsar.