On the occasion, dignitaries attended a prayer meeting during which no one from the Union government was present.
President Pranab Mukherjee and Vice President Hamid Ansari paid floral tributes to Indira Gandhi on her 32nd death anniversary while Rahul Gandhi led a march from 24 Akbar road to 1 Safdarjung road, where the former Prime Minister was assassinated.
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was also present at the Indira Memorial, where the Congress Vice President paid tributes to her along with party President Sonia Gandhi and other senior leaders.
The dignitaries attended a prayer meeting on the occasion during which no one from the Union government was present, senior leader Anand Sharma said. Sharma also attacked the Narendra Modi government for "deliberately disrespecting" the memory and martyrdom of Indira Gandhi, describing her as the "tallest leader, and a popular Prime Minister who gave her life for India."
"Indira Gandhi's martyrdom is respected by the people of this country. It is matter of shame that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP government are disrespecting the memory and ultimate sacrifice of India's late prime minister Shrimati Indira Gandhi," he said. "I would like to remind the BJP and the RSS that they should also remember Sardar Patel's action and the decision to ban the RSS. They should also publish this in their government advertisements,"Sharma said.
Leaders including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Sharma, Kumari Selja, Ahmed Patel and Randeep Surjewala covered the one- kilometre-long distance from the Congress headquarters to the memorial with Rahul. Earlier, the party had cancelled the annual commemoration programme at Shakti Sthal as it continues to remain shut after reporting a number of duck deaths amid the bird flu scare in the city.
Remembering the contribution of the 'Iron man' of India, Prime Minister Modi had on Sunday urged the nation to promote unity and equality among all.
"We should take a positive step towards it and work to promote equality in the society. But on one Sardar's birthday, history remembers how the Sikhs and 'sardars' all over the country faced violence and pain, which is why we all need to learn that we all must unite and work towards unity rather than allowing divisiveness to spread," he added.
Indira Gandhi was the first and to date the only female prime minister of India. She was assassinated after she ordered the storming of the Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar to counter the Punjab insurgency. On October 31, 1984, two of her Sikh bodyguards shot her with their service weapons at the Prime Minister's residence.
Both the accused were sentenced to death and hanged in Delhi's Tihar Jail, while following her cremation, millions of Sikhs were displaced and nearly three thousand were killed in anti-Sikh riots.
With ANI/PTI inputs
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