Delhi: Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on Sunday paid tributes to the former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on her birth anniversary and said that she was a valiant crusader who fought for the causes of the people.

Sonia Gandhi highlighted Indira Gandhi's impactful contributions, both in her political career and in her dedication to pro-poor policies and global efforts against hunger.

Addressing the felicitation ceremony of the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament, and Development in New Delhi, Sonia Gandhi said, "Be it her political career where she challenged orthodoxy to introduce equity or pro-poor policy, be it a fight to defeat hunger in an international environment that disliked self-respecting sovereign states, be it her extraordinary quality to quell divisive tendencies in India."

"Be it a fight to defeat hunger in an international environment that disliked self-respecting sovereign states, be it her unparallel role in the creation of a new nation to honour people's aspirations, she was a valiant crusader of people's causes," she added. Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson further stated that Indira Gandhi played a crucial role in the development of the public health sector.

"Under her stewardship, India also saw the enactment of the National Health Policy in 1983 that played the foundation for more accessible health systems. It brought together promotive preventive and curative health services and a vital expansion of rural health outreach," she said. Earlier today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday paid tributes to Indira Gandhi on her 106th birth anniversary.

Born on November 19, 1917, Indira Gandhi left an indelible mark in national politics and served as the third Prime Minister from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 until her assassination on October 31, 1984. The country's first, and, to date, only female prime minister, she emerged as a central figure in Indian politics as the leader of the Congress.

The daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of independent India, Indira was succeded in the country's highest office by her son Rajiv Gandhi. Her combined tenure of 15 years and 350 days made her the second-longest-serving PM after her father.