JOIN USPrime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday paid tributes to his predecessor Rajiv Gandhi on his 24th death anniversary.
“Paying tributes to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on his death anniversary,” Modi tweeted.
Gandhi, country’s sixth and youngest Prime Minister who was assassinated on this day in 1991 at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu by an LTTE woman suicide bomber during an election campaign, was also remembered by many leaders here at his “Vir Bhumi” memorial.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi, her son and party vice president Rahul Gandhi, daughter Priyanka Gandhi and son-in-law Robert Vadra paid floral tributes to the former Prime Minister.
Former prime minister Manmohan Singh and other Congress leaders like Oscar Fernandez and Gulam Nabi Azad also paid homage to the late Prime Minister at an event organised to mark his 24th death anniversary at ‘Vir Bhumi’.
President Pranab Mukherjee and Vice President M Hamid Ansari, however, remained absent at the memorial apparently due to the government’s decision that such events will be a non- governmental affair.
In a tribute, the late Prime Minister’s son Rahul described him as a "father, friend, leader" who wanted to build "a new India".
“Today, we remember Rajivji, his vision for a new India - a modern and progressive India, confident of its place in the world. I remember him as a father, a friend and a leader -- a man of many parts who taught by example the meaning of commitment and compassion,” he said after visiting his Vir Bhumi here.