New Delhi: President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh led the nation in paying floral tributes to India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, on his 45th death anniversary on Wednesday. Vice President Hamid Ansari and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi also paid floral tributes at Shanti Van, the memorial dedicated to Nehru, as priests recited hymns from the sacred texts. Defence Minister A K Antony, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, former Home Minister Shivraj Patil, Ministers Vyalar Ravi, Murli Deora Meira Kumar, Veerappa Moily, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, senior Congress leaders Motilal Vohra, Satyabrat Chaturvedi, Ashwini Kumar, Pawan Kumar Bansal, Subudh Kant Sahay and Sis Ram Ola, J P Aggarwal and Jagdish Tytler, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, former chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Thiruvanthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor and Congress leader Buta Singh were also present on the occasion. An all-religion prayer meeting was organised at the premises. A speech delivered by Nehru was also played at the end of the prayer. A pivotal figure during India's independence movement, Nehru was born on November 14, 1889 in Allahabad. Nehru graduated from Cambridge University, and returned to India in 1912. He was also a key figure in international politics in the post-war period, and was one of the founding figures of the Non-Aligned Movement. Popularly referred to as Panditji, Nehru was also a writer, a scholar and an amateur historian. Nehru was one of the youngest leaders of the Indian National Congress and was jailed seven times. He was independent India's first Prime Minister from August 15, 1947 to May 27, 1964.
- May 27, 2009