Daijiworld Media Network- New Delhi

New Delhi, Aug 20: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday remembered former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on the occasion of his 81st birth anniversary, joining several Congress leaders and family members in paying floral tributes to the late leader.

Rajiv Gandhi, India’s youngest Prime Minister, took charge in 1984 after the assassination of his mother, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. At the age of 40, he became a symbol of youthful leadership and led the nation until 1989. He was later assassinated in May 1991 in a terrorist attack in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu.

Taking to X, PM Modi posted: “On his birth anniversary today, my tributes to former Prime Minister Shri Rajiv Gandhi Ji.”

Earlier in the day, Congress leaders marked the day, also observed as Sadbhavana Divas. Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge, senior leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi, and General Secretary K.C. Venugopal, along with several party workers, gathered at Veer Bhumi in New Delhi to pay homage. Priyanka Gandhi’s husband Robert Vadra and son Raihan Vadra also offered floral tributes.

The Congress party, in its official post on X, wrote: “On the birth anniversary of the architect of modern India, Bharat Ratna former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi ji, we offer countless salutations. On this Sadbhavana Divas, remembering Rajiv Gandhi ji’s dreams, we reaffirm his resolve.”

Born on August 20, 1944, in Bombay, Rajiv Gandhi grew up in a political household with his grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru as the country’s first Prime Minister. His tenure is often remembered for pushing India into the IT and telecom revolution, sowing seeds of a modern technological era.