Leaders across parties pay tribute to Rajiv Gandhi on 75th birth anniversary

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday paid their tributes to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi on his birth anniversary.

Taking to Twitter, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote, "Tributes to our former PM Shri Rajiv Gandhi on his birth anniversary."

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also offered his tribute to the late Prime Minister.

"I offer my tributes to former Prime Minister of India, Shri Rajiv Gandhi on his 75th birth anniversary today", Singh wrote on Twitter.

Earlier on Tuesday, key Congress leaders including party's Interim President Sonia Gandhi, senior leader Rahul Gandhi, general secretary Priyanka Gandhi, former President Pranab Mukherjee, former prime minister Manmohan Singh among others visited Rajiv Gandhi's memorial at 'Veer Bhoomi' and paid tribute to the deceased leader.

Priyanka Gandhi's husband and businessman Robert Vadra and her daughter Miraya Vadra were also present at the occasion.

On Monday, Rahul Gandhi had tweeted that Congress party would be holding several memorial events across the country this week to mark his father's birth anniversary.

"This week we will celebrate my father, Rajiv Gandhi Ji's 75th birth anniversary with memorial events across India. To honour him, each day this week, I will draw attention to one of his many incredible achievements. Today, the Information Technology revolution," Rahul tweeted along with a video.

In the first video, the Gandhi scion shared how seeds of IT revolution in the country were sown in 1985 under Rajiv Gandhi's leadership.

Congress general secretary KC Venugopal has directed party functionaries to observe the day at the state, district and block levels with the involvement of the general public at large.

He has also instructed the leaders that apart from the prayer meetings and floral tributes, social programmes such as blood donation camps, plantation of saplings, seminars, conferences can be held.

Rajiv Gandhi became the youngest prime minister of the country at age 40. He took over as the sixth Prime Minister after his mother Indira Gandhi's assassination in 1984. In May 1991, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suicide bomber during an election rally in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu. His death anniversary is also observed as Anti-Terrorism day.