Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi paying tribute at Indira Gandhi's memorial. (Agence France-Presse)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said the anti-Sikh riots in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi's assassination were like a "dagger that pierced through India's chest."Speaking at the "Run for Unity" to mark Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's birth anniversary - seen as the BJP government's attempt to recast a day traditionally marked as Indira Gandhi's death anniversary - PM Modi said, "Our own people were murdered, the attack was not on a particular community but on the entire nation. It was like a dagger pierced through India's chest."Over 3,000 people, mostly Sikhs, were killed after then prime minister Indira Gandhi was shot dead by her own Sikh bodyguards at her home in Delhi. The killing was linked to Mrs Gandhi's decision to sanction "Operation Bluestar", or the storming of the Golden Temple to flush out Sikh militants hiding there.Allegations that the Congress tried to protect its top leaders accused of leading mobs against Sikhs have been a recurring theme in the BJP's campaigns against the UPA."It is unfortunate that on the birth anniversary of the man who dedicated his life in uniting the country, a tragic incident took place 30 years ago that shook the country and left it deeply scarred," PM Modi said.In what many in the Congress see as an "insult", there was no one from the central government at Indira Gandhi's memorial Shakti Sthal today for a tribute organized by Sonia Gandhi, her daughter-in-law and Congress president. (read: Modi Government absent at Indira Gandhi's memorial PM Modi had tweeted his tribute in the morning, saying, "I join my fellow countrymen & women in remembering former PM Smt. Indira Gandhi on her Punya Tithi (death anniversary)."President Pranab Mukherjee and Vice President Hamid Ansari were the only dignitaries to join the homage for Indira Gandhi, besides Congress leaders including Sonia and Rahul Gandhi.

Congress leaders say it is the first time that Indira Gandhi's death anniversary was marked without any state patronage.