As India observes 20th anniversary of a terror attack on the Indian Parliament on Monday, the nation is paying its tribute to those who lost their lives fighting off the terrorists during the 13 December attack.
President Ram Nath Kovind led the nation in paying tribute and expressing a sense of gratitude to those security personnel who gave their lives on this day in 2001. He called the incident a "dastardly" attack.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a message posted on Twitter called the supreme sacrifice of the security personnel an inspiration for all Indians across the country .
Calling the attack on the Indian Parliament a "cowardly act", Home Minister Amit Shah tweeted in Hindi: "I salute the courage and valour of all the brave security forces who made their supreme sacrifice to protect the pride of the nation in the cowardly terrorist attack on the Parliament House, the temple of Indian democracy. Your unparalleled valour and immortal sacrifice will always inspire us to serve the nation".
Aside from President Kovind, Prime Minister Modi, and Home Minister Shah, other federal ministers also paid tributes to the fallen heroes.
India's main opposition party, Congress, additionally remembered the martyrs saying their sacrifice drives the group to protect the nation's democracy.
Ordinary netizens have also taken to Twitter to salute the late security personnel stating that their sacrifice will always be revered and the country will remain forever indebted to them.
On 13 December 2001, five heavily armed men from the terror groups Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad breached the security cordons deployed around the Indian Parliament complex and opened fire.
Both houses of the Indian Parliament (Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha) were in session when the attack took place. They had been adjourned 40 minutes prior to the attack, but several parliamentarians and staff were present inside the building.
Five security personnel from the Delhi Police, one female constable from the CRPF, and two security assistants from the Parliament Watch and Ward section died while preventing the terrorists from entering the complex. A gardener and a photojournalist too lost their lives.
The incident brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war.