The nation paid homage to former Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral on his first death anniversary on Saturday.
Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and other political leaders visited Smriti Sthal, the resting place of Gujral, and paid floral tributes.
Born on 4 December 1919 in Jhelum, now in Pakistan, I K Gujral served as the 12th Prime Minister of India from April 1997 to March 1998.
Gujral took part in the freedom struggle at the age of 23, and was sent to jail during the Quit India Movement in 1942.
He moved to Delhi from Lahore during Partition, and involved himself in Delhi's local politics.
In 1964, Gujral joined the Congress Party and served as a member of the Rajya Sabha twice.
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Seeing his administrative qualities, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, gave Gujral charge of different sectors of the government.
From 1967 to 1976, I K Gujral served as Minister for Communications, Parliamentary Affairs and Housing.
In the late 1980s, he left the Congress Party and joined the newly-formed Janata Dal.
When the National Front came to power in 1989, he was made External Affairs Minister.
Gujral went into political wilderness, after the fall of the V.P. Singh Government in late 1990, but surprisingly emerged as the choice to replace H.D. Deve Gowda as Prime Minister in the United Front government.
His stint from April 1997 to May 1998 was insufficient for him to leave a stamp, but he managed to leave two legacies: As prime minister, Gujral resisted the signing of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), which helped the next government to conduct the second round of nuclear tests in Pokhran, Rajasthan.
His second contribution was the "Gujral Doctrine", a five-point roadmap that sought to build trust between India and her neighbours bilaterally.
Gujral contested the 1998 Lok Sabha elections from Punjab, with the backing of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), but after the House was dissolved in 1999, he retired from active politics.
In his last years, he devoted himself to writing on foreign policy and promoting the liberal view point.
The people of India will remember I K Gujral as the country's gentlest Prime Minister.