PM Modi pays homage to Gandhi, Shastri on birth anniversary

New Delhi | Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday paid his tributes to Mahatma Gandhi on his birth anniversary, and said his government will follow his path for building a developed India.

He said on X, "Gandhi Jayanti is about paying homage to the extraordinary life of beloved Bapu, whose ideals transformed the course of human history. He demonstrated how courage and simplicity could become instruments of great change."

Modi said Gandhi believed in the power of service and compassion as essential means of empowering people.

He also paid homage to India's second prime minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri, whose birth anniversary, too, fell on Thursday.

He lauded him as an extraordinary statesman whose integrity, humility, and determination strengthened India.

"He personified exemplary leadership, strength and decisive action. His clarion call of 'Jai Jawan Jai Kisan' ignited a spirit of patriotism among our people. He continues to motivate us in the endeavour of building a strong and self-reliant India," the prime minister said.

Modi, who has been passionately promoting swadeshi, said buying products made by Indians will be a true tribute to Gandhi and Shastri.

Swadeshi is the foundation of a self-reliant and developed India, he added.

Born in Gujarat in 1869, Gandhi is considered the most influential Indian of his era as he shaped the country's freedom movement through truth and non-violence, winning worldwide following.

Shastri was born in Uttar Pradesh in 1904 and rose to become the country's prime minister after the death of Jawaharlal Nehru.

His honesty and leadership of the country in his short stint as prime minister during which India fought a war with Pakistan earned him universal praise.