New Delhi [India], November 19 (ANI): Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, alongwith Congress leaders, paid floral tributes to former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi at Central Hall in the Parliament on her 108th birth anniversary on Wednesday.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi, and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, were also among the people who paid tribute to the former PM.

Among those in attendance were Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal, and Rajya Sabha MP and BCCI Vice-President Rajeev Shukla.

Born on November 19, 1917, to India's first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Kamala Nehru, Indira Gandhi served as the first and only woman prime minister from January 1966 to March 1977 and again from January 1980 until her assassination in October 1984.

She was the second-longest-serving Prime Minister after Nehru and was well-known for path-breaking economic and social reforms, including the nationalisation of banks. She also abolished the privy purses of the erstwhile princely states.

Indira Gandhi, who was hailed as one of the tallest world leaders, was assassinated by her own Sikh bodyguards at her residence on Akbar Road on October 31, 1984. This came after Operation Bluestar was executed at Amritsar's Golden Temple, wherein Gandhi ordered the Indian Army to confront Sikh separatists who had taken shelter at the holy shrine.

Also known as the 'Iron Lady of India,' Indira Gandhi was actively involved in the freedom movements, including starting the 'Bal Charkha Sangh' and 'Vanar Sena' to support the Congress during the Civil Disobedience movement and fight against the British forces. (ANI)