Nation pays tributes to Indira Gandhi on her 93rd birthday

The nation on Friday fondly remembered former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on her 93rd birth anniversary with President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh among prominent personalities who paid rich tributes to the leader.

The leaders offered floral tributes at her memorial Shakti Sthal on the banks of Yamuna.

Besides Patil and Singh, Vice President Hamid Ansari, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar were among those who visited the memorial.

Indira Gandhi, born on November 19, 1917 in the politically influential Nehru family, was the first woman Prime Minister of India. Her father Jawaharlal Nehru was a pivotal figure in the Indian independence movement and the first Prime Minister of independent India.

After Nehru's death in 1964, she became a Rajya Sabha member and was inducted in Lal Bahadur Shastri's Cabinet as minister of information and broadcasting.

She held three consecutive terms as Prime Minister from 1966 to 1977. The Congress leader was assassinated on October 31, 1984 during her fourth stint.