A Congress worker garlands a statue of Indira Gandhi on her death anniversary in Bikaner on Tuesday. (PTI)

New Delhi, Oct. 31: The Congress today observed Indira Gandhi’s death anniversary with paeans to secularism.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the 2002 Gujarat carnage was “not a Hindu-Muslim problem but a clash of secularism and democracy versus fascism and intolerance”.

At a function where poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar received the 21st Indira Gandhi award for National Integration, Singh said: “We Indians are intrinsically a tolerant people. Our democracy is built on our civilisational commitment to pluralism.”

Sonia Gandhi said: “Some people are trying to divide society and pitting groups against each other. We have to fight this battle and win.”

She recalled that Indira Gandhi had “surrendered” her life to the country.

Akhtar equated the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Muslim League, saying both subscribed to the two-nation theory that had led to “blood-stained, gory Partition”.