President Pranab Mukherjee with Congress President Sonia Gandhi and party leader Karan Singh at Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Lecture on Jawaharlal Nehru And The Making of Modern India in New Delhi on Thursday. (Press Trust of India)
President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice President Hamid Ansari and top leaders of the Congress today paid rich tributes to country's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on his 125th birth anniversary but no one from the NDA government was present at the event.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi, party Vice President Rahul Gandhi, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Sheila Dikshit and Shakeel Ahmed were among the Congress leaders who paid floral tribute to Nehru at his memorial Shanti Van on the banks of Yamuna in Delhi.
At the end of the ceremony, the dignitaries released tricolour balloons in the air.
Though Union Ministers attended a number of functions to commemorate Nehru's birth anniversary, no government representative was present at the event in Shanti Van, in a break from convention.
At an event to commemorate Nehru's 125th birth anniversary, the Congress yesterday had launched a sharp but veiled attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of seeking to destroy the secular vision of the first Prime Minister.
The Congress has been accusing PM Modi of appropriating the legacy of freedom movement leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel.
Nehru was born to Motilal Nehru and Swaroop Rani on November 14, 1889, in Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh and his birthday is celebrated as Children's Day in India as he was fond of kids.