PM pays tribute to Lal Bahadur Shastri in Tashkent, plants tree with Uzbek President

Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid floral tributes on the Shastri Memorial in Uzbekistan’s capital on Sunday (August 30, 2026), honouring the legacy of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri by planting a tree together with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

Shastri, India’s second Prime Minister, abruptly died within the Uzbek capital on January 11, 1966, simply hours after signing the historic Tashkent Declaration to finish the 1965 Indo-Pakistan Conflict.

His “timeless name of ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’ continues to encourage generations,” the Ministry of Exterior Affairs stated, including that his “life embodied simplicity, braveness and unwavering devotion to the nation.”

Shared dedication

Mr. Modi and Mr. Mirziyoyev additionally collectively planted a tree within the Presidential Palace backyard underneath India’s ‘Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam’ initiative and Uzbekistan’s ‘Yashil Makon’ inexperienced efforts, the MEA stated in a submit on X. “The gesture displays the shared dedication of India and Uzbekistan in the direction of nurturing a greener and extra sustainable future,” it stated.

The tree-planting ceremony got here after the Prime Minister held delegation-level talks with the Uzbek President on the Kuksaroy Presidential Palace as a part of his two-day state go to to Uzbekistan, with the 2 nations agreeing to raise their bilateral Strategic Partnership to a Complete Strategic Partnership, setting a bilateral commerce goal of $5 billion by 2030.

PM meets Indian diaspora

Mr. Mirziyoyev additionally conferred Uzbekistan’s highest honour for foreign leaders, the Oliy Darajali Do’stlik Order, on Mr. Modi for his contribution to strengthening friendship between the 2 nations.

Earlier within the day, Mr. Modi attended a yoga session hosted by the Yoga Federation of Uzbekistan and met members of the Indian neighborhood at a lodge in Tashkent. The Prime Minister is on the primary leg of a two-nation go to that may subsequent take him to Kyrgyzstan from August 31 to September 1 for the twenty sixth Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit.