New Delhi: A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi remarked that India’s response to the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks was not “strong enough,” senior Congress leader and former Union Minister P. Chidambaram defended the UPA government’s actions, describing them as “measured, mature, and responsible.”
In a detailed post on X (formerly Twitter), Chidambaram wrote,
“The then Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, and the government acted with great restraint and maturity. It was the right decision, and it earned the respect of the world.”
Chidambaram asserted that the Manmohan Singh government’s calibrated response in 2008 prevented a larger regional escalation and helped India maintain its reputation as a responsible democracy on the global stage.
Prime Minister Modi, during his address on Wednesday, had said,
“After the 26/11 attacks, the whole country was angry. But at that time, India’s response should have been strong. Today’s India answers terror with firmness and at the source.”
The remarks, made in the context of India’s evolving national security and counterterrorism strategy, have reignited a political exchange between the BJP and the Congress.
While BJP leaders have reiterated their criticism that the UPA government failed to deliver a decisive military response to the attacks, Congress leaders have stood by the previous administration’s diplomatic restraint and international engagement in the aftermath of the tragedy.
The renewed debate comes just weeks ahead of the anniversary of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, one of the darkest chapters in India’s history, when ten heavily armed terrorists from Pakistan carried out coordinated strikes across Mumbai, killing 166 people and injuring over 300 others.
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