New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday paid tributes to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on the occasion of his 81st birth anniversary.

Rajiv Gandhi, who served as India’s Prime Minister from 1984 to 1989, assumed office after the assassination of his mother, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. At 40, he became the youngest Prime Minister in Indian history.

Sharing his tribute on X, PM Modi wrote, “On his birth anniversary today, my tributes to former Prime Minister Shri Rajiv Gandhi Ji.”

Rajiv Gandhi led the nation until the 1989 general elections and later served as Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. He resigned in December 1990, six months before his assassination in a brutal terrorist attack.

Born on August 20, 1944, in Bombay, Rajiv Gandhi was just three years old when India gained independence and his grandfather, Jawaharlal Nehru, became the country’s first Prime Minister. His parents, Indira Gandhi and Feroze Gandhi, moved to New Delhi after his father became an MP.

Earlier in the day, the Congress party marked the occasion as Sadbhavana Divas. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and party General Secretary K.C. Venugopal visited Veer Bhumi in New Delhi to pay floral tributes. Priyanka Gandhi’s husband Robert Vadra and their son Raihan Vadra were also present.

The Congress party posted on X, “On the birth anniversary of the architect of modern India, Bharat Ratna former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi Ji, we offer countless salutations. On this Sadbhavana Divas, remembering his dreams, we reaffirm his resolve.”