Rahul Gandhi remembers his mentor and guide, `dadi` Indira Gandhi

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday remembered her “dadi” and former prime minister Indira Gandhi on the latter’s 100th birth anniversary. Taking to Twitter, the Gandhi scion referred to Indira Gandhi as his “mentor and guide”.

“I remember you Dadi with so much love and happiness. You are my mentor and guide. You give me strength,” Rahul Gandhi tweeted.

On Sunday morning, the Congress vice president, along with former prime minister Manmohan Singh and former president Pranab Mukherjee, visited Shakti Sthal, the memorial site of Indira Gandhi, to pay tributes to her.

President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi also took to Twitter to pay tributes to the Congress leader.

Former president Pranab Mukherjee, who was a close aide of Indira Gandhi during her tenure in office, also paid tributes to the former PM, saying, “Her steely determination, clarity of thought & decisive actions made her a towering personality.”

He termed Indira as India’s iron lady, adding that his career as a parliamentarian was mentored by the former prime minister. He further said, “She never hesitated to call a spade a spade”.

Indira Gandhi, the first woman Prime Minister of India, was born on this day in 1917 in Allahabad. Though her tenure as the prime minister of India has been in the line of fire because of the Emergency (1975-1977), there has been little doubt over her mettle as a strong leader. She was the first and, till date, the only female Prime Minister of India. She was assassinated by her bodyguards at her Safdarjung residence in New Delhi on October 31, 1984.