Rich tributes paid to Bapu, Shastri

New Delhi: The nation on Thursday remembered Mahatma Gandhi on his 145th birth anniversary with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders paying floral tributes at his memorial here.

Vice President Hamid Ansari, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh were among those who also paid homage to the Father of the Nation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a brief visit to the memorial.

He went straight to the 'samadhi' and offered floral tributes. The Prime Minister sat there for some time before he left for his other engagements. An all-religion prayer was conducted during the ceremony.

The favourite hymns of Gandhi were also played on the occasion. A large number of schoolchildren, foreigners and common people had also gathered at the venue to pay tributes to Gandhi.

Shastri symbol of simplicity
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday led the nation in paying homage to former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri on his 110th birth anniversary, describing him as a symbol of simplicity and strong determination.

Modi paid floral tributes to Shastri at his samadhi Vijay Ghat, after visiting Mahatma Gandhi's memorial at Raj Ghat. Shastri's birth anniversary coincides with that of the father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi.

Shastri, who was a Congress leader, served as the second Prime Minister of the country."A symbol of strong determination and simplicity who gave India the slogan of Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan- Lal Bahadur Shastri. I bow before him," Modi tweeted.