The nation on Wednesday 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.
Mr. 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 in New Delhi on Wednesday morning.
Rahul Gandhi was not present in the programme organised by the All India Congress Committee.
Mr. Modi also paid homage to Nehru on twitter.
“Tributes to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on his Punya Tithi. We remember his contribution as a freedom fighter and as our 1st PM,” Mr. Modi tweeted.
Tributes to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on his Punya Tithi. We remember his contribution as a freedom fighter & as our 1st PM.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) >May 27, 2015
An interfaith 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.