Indira Gandhi's 94th birth anniversary: Nation pays tributes to her

NEW DELHI: The nation today 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.

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.

Gandhi, born on November 19, 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 October 31, 1984.