Congress must tell why it didn’t attack Pak after 26/11: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday accused the Congress of bowing to international pressure and displaying weakness in the aftermath of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, saying the party “kneeled before terrorism” instead of striking back.

Speaking at the inauguration of the Navi Mumbai International Airport, Modi hit out at the Congress by invoking recent remarks by former Union minister P Chidambaram, who had admitted that India refrained from retaliating against Pakistan in 2008 due to pressure from foreign governments.

Referring to Chidambaram’s disclosure that India had refrained from military retaliation against Pakistan due to foreign pressure, Modi said it exposed how the then government lacked resolve. He alleged that the Congress leadership “chose to bow before international powers” rather than defend the country’s dignity.

“Even though our forces were prepared to respond, the government stopped them under the influence of another nation,” Modi said, adding that such decisions had cost India dearly in the years that followed.

He asserted that the Congress owed the nation an explanation for why it had allowed global opinion to dictate India’s security response. “By refusing to act firmly, they emboldened terrorism and weakened our defence posture,” he said.

Chidambaram, who became Home Minister soon after the 2008 attacks, had recently said while he had favoured retaliatory strikes, the government opted for restraint following requests from world leaders, including then US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who visited New Delhi to discourage escalation.

Contrasting his government’s approach, Modi said India of today “acts decisively” and does not hesitate to strike terrorists across borders when provoked.

He cited Operation Sindoor, India’s recent response to the Pahalgam terror attack, which reportedly targeted bases of groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba in Muridke and Jaish-e-Mohammed in Bahawalpur, as an example of the country’s new assertiveness. “The world now recognises that India has both the will and the strength to hit back,” he said.

Responding to Modi’s remarks, senior Congress leader and MP Manish Tewari dismissed them as unfounded and entirely incorrect.

He said it was regrettable that the country’s Prime Minister had made such a statement, adding that from 2014 to 2024, despite surgical strikes and other military operations, Pakistan’s entrenched “deep state” mindset remained unchanged.

Since the 1980s, Tewari noted, Pakistan had consistently supported terrorism against India. “Irrespective of which party was in power, Congress, the United Front, or the BJP, every Indian government had taken steps to counter terrorism,” he said, stressing that using Pakistan-sponsored terrorism for political purposes was detrimental to national security.