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India pays tribute to Indira Gandhi

     New Delhi: Indian leaders paid rich tributes to former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on her 88th birth anniversary on Saturday. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his cabinet colleagues joined Sonia Gandhi, the chief of their ruling Congress party, in paying homage to Indira Gandhi at "Shakti Sthal", her memorial and also attended special prayers. Scores of people from across the country along with Congress workers visited the memorial to pay their respects to the former Prime Minister who was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984. The daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi was the recipient of India's highest civil award, Bharat Ratna. She was born in Allahabad in 1917 and was the only child of Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister and Kamala Nehru. Indira was the Prime Minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 to 1984. She was elected to Parliament for the first time in 1964 and also served as the country's Minister of Information and Broadcasting in the government of Lal Bahadur Shastri.