File Picture Courtesy : Business Standard
Top leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, paid tributes on Tuesday to then prime minister Indira Gandhi on her 33rd death anniversary, and to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on his 142nd birth anniversary.
“Tributes to former PM Mrs Indira Gandhi on her death anniversary,” Modi tweeted.
According to various media reports, Former president Pranab Mukherjee, former prime minister Manmohan Singh and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi also paid tributes to Indira Gandhi at Shakti Sthal in New Delhi.
The Congress party, in a series of tweets, said Indira Gandhi had immense passion for India and its people. Congree vice president Rahul Gandhi tweeted on his late grand- mother
Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave: Indira Gandhi pic.twitter.com/kjlDwVslpW
— Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) October 31, 2017
Gandhi was the first female Prime Minister of India and the daughter of the first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Born on November 19, 1917, Indira Gandhi was assassinated on October 31, 1984, by her bodyguards a few months after she ordered the storming of the Golden Temple in Amritsar to counter the Punjab insurgency.
Rahul Gandhi also paid tributes to Sardar Patel, saying he was “an embodiment of integrity and strength, (and) one of the architects of (the) idea of India”.
An embodiment of integrity & strength, Sardar Patel was one of the architects of Idea of India. My tributes to him on his birth anniversary. pic.twitter.com/RgoGklx9kA
— Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) October 31, 2017
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor also tweeted his tribute to India Gandhi and pointed out an important message by the late leader
A timely warning from the past! pic.twitter.com/gnKTzxppBK
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) October 31, 2017
Meanwhile, President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu paid tributes to Sardar Patel on his 142nd birth anniversary.
Kovind remembered Patel as “India’s Man of Iron, of Integrity and of Integration” in a tweet he posted after paying floral tributes at Patel Chowk.
Naidu too paid floral tributes to Patel, who is credited for the ensuring integration of the nation post Independence.
Born on October 31, 1875 in Nadiad, a village in Gujarat, Patel became the first deputy prime minister of India. He died on December 15, 1950.
Popularly known as the Iron Man of India, Patel was conferred with the highest civilian honour, Bharat Ratna, in 1991 for his services to the nation.
Earlier, Modi flagged off a run to commemorate Sardar Patel’s birth anniversary.
The Run for Unity, which began from the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, saw the participation of a large number of people, including sports personalities like Sardar Singh, Deepa Karmakar, Suresh Raina and Karnam Malleswari.
Sardar Patel’s “momentous service and monumental contribution to India can never be forgotten”, Modi said.
The Prime Minister said everyone in the country was proud of Patel’s contribution to India before it attained freedom and during the early years after the nation became independent.
