New Delhi, May 21 (IANS): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday described former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, assassinated on this day in 1991, as a "father, friend, leader" who wanted to build "a new India".

In a tribute after visiting his father's memorial Vir Bhumi here, Rahul Gandhi said: "Today we remember Rajivji. His vision for a new India - a modern and progressive India confident of its place in the world.

"I remember him as a father, a friend and a leader -- a man of many parts who taught by example the meaning of commitment and compassion."

Earlier, Rahul Gandhi was accompanied by his mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi as well as his sister Priyanka and her husband Robert Vadra who visited the memorial to pay floral tributes.

Rajiv Gandhi, who was prime minister from 1984 to 1989, was blown up by a woman suicide bomber of the now vanquished Tamil Tigers from Sri Lanka at an election rally near Chennai on May 21, 1991.