Congress pays tribute to Indira Gandhi, Sardar Patel

Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi on Monday led a march from the party office to Indira Gandhi Memorial on Safdarjung Road here to pay tributes to late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on her 32nd death anniversary.

The party also remembered Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel whose birth anniversary falls on the same day.

"On this day, Indira Gandhi laid down her life, fighting for India's unity and integrity. We salute her martyrdom," the Congress party tweeted.

President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice-President Mohammad Hamid Ansari, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit also paid tributes to Indira Gandhi.

Among other Congress leaders who took part in the march were Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Ahmed Patel and Kumari Selja.

Gandhi, India's first woman Prime Minister, was born on November 19, 1917, and was assassinated on October 31, 1984, a few months after she ordered Operation Blue Star in Amritsar to flush out Khalistan terrorists from the holiest of the Sikh shrines, the Harmandir Sahib, better known as the Golden Temple.

She was the second longest-serving Prime Minister after her father, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the country's first Prime Minister. She held the office from January 1966 to March 1977 and from January 14, 1980, till her assassination.

Indira Gandhi was conferred the Bharat Ratna in 1971 by then President V.V. Giri.

"We pay homage to Smt. Indira Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel today (Monday)," the Congress wrote in another tweet.

Indira Gandhi's martyrdom day programme at Shakti Sthal was cancelled this year as it is closed in view of the bird flu scare.

Vallabhbhai Patel was born on October 31, 1875, in Nadiad, a small village in Gujarat. He was conferred with Bharat Ratna in 1991 for his services to the nation. He played a leading role during the freedom movement and later in successfully integrating hundreds of princely states into a united, independent state.

He was India's first Deputy Prime Minister and the Home Minister. He was popularly known as the 'Iron man' of India.

--IANS

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