Rajnath Singh visits Vietnam's Founding Father Ho Chi Minh mausoleum, pays homage

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday visited the mausoleum of Vietnam's Founding Father Ho Chi Minh and paid him respectful homage.

Singh, who is in the Southeast Asian country on a three-day visit from 8 June, laid a wreath at the Monument for War Heroes and Martyrs as a mark of respect to Vietnam's gallant war heroes and martyrs in Hanoi.

Defence Minister Singh is scheduled to call on Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.

In New Delhi, the defence ministry said Rajnath Singh's visit to Vietnam from 8 to 10 June is aimed at further consolidating the bilateral defence ties as well as the comprehensive strategic partnership.

Ho Chi Minh, who was the President of North Vietnam from 1954 until his death in 1969, led the Vietnamese nationalist movement for more than three decades. 

He is known as Vietnam's Founding Father. After the unification of North and South Vietnam in 1976, Saigon was renamed as Ho Chi Minh City in his honour.