Nehru remembered on 51st death anniversary

The nation today remembered Jawaharlal Nehru on his 51st death anniversary with President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders paying tributes to the country's first Prime Minister.

Mukherjee, Vice President Hamid Ansari, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi were among the leaders who paid floral tribute to Nehru at his memorial Shanti Van on the banks of Yamuna here this morning.

Rahul Gandhi was not present in the programme organised by All India Congress Committee.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also paid homage to Nehru on the micro-blogging site twitter.

"Tributes to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on his Punya Tithi. We remember his contribution as a freedom fighter and as our 1st PM," Modi tweeted.

An inter-faith prayer meeting was held at Shanti Van where scriptures from different religions were recited. Devotional songs were also rendered in the programme.

Congress leaders including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Sheila Dikshit, Ahmed Patel, Sri Prakash Jaiswal and Ajay Maken too paid homage at the memorial of Nehru on the occasion.

An excerpt of Nehru's address to the people of India calling upon them to work for strengthening unity and integrity of the country and respecting other religions, was also played during the programme.

Born on November 14, 1889, Nehru was one of the prominent nationalist leaders of the freedom struggle in the 20th century and the central figure of independent India as its first Prime Minister till his demise on May 27, 1964.