Modi salutes Shastri

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday paid tributes to former prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri on his 109th birth anniversary.

Modi described Shastri as a man "with strong determination" and "a symbol of simplicity" and "a person who gave India the slogan Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan".

Before paying floral tributes to Shastri -- India's second prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru -- at Vijay Ghat, Modi paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi at his memorial at the nearby Raj Ghat.

Both Gandhi's and Shastri's birth anniversaries fall on Oct 2.