New Delhi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi on his birth anniversary on Thursday and said the government will follow the path shown by him for building a developed India.

"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 in a post on X.

The prime minister said Gandhi believed in the power of service and compassion as essential means for empowering people.

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

The prime minister lauded Shastri 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 asserted.

The prime minister also visited the memorials of Gandhi and Shastri here to pay homage to them. He later attended a prayer meeting at Gandhi Smriti.

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.

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