File photo of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack
Highlights
- BJP said that the UPA gov had put national security at stake by not responding strongly after 26/11
- Manish Tewari said that then UPA govt had gone soft which is not a sign of strength, but weakness
- Tewari said that India should have actioned a kinetic response in the days following India's 9/11
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has launched a scathing attack on the Congress over senior party leader Manish Tewari's new book wherein he criticised the erstwhile Manmohan Singh government for going soft after the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai. Addressing the media, BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said that the Congress-led UPA government had put national security at stake by not responding strongly after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
Tewari in his book '10 Flash Points; 20 Years - National Security Situations that Impacted India' said that the government had then gone soft in the name of restraint which is not a sign of 'strength', but 'weakness'. "For a state that has no compunctions in brutally slaughtering hundreds of innocent people, restraint is not a sign of strength; it is perceived as a symbol of weakness. There comes a time when actions must speak louder than words. 26/11 was one such time when it just should have been done," Tiwari wrote.
"It, therefore, is my considered opinion that India should have actioned a kinetic response in the days following India's 9/11," he added.
Bhatia said that what Manish Tiwari has written in his book, "we all have seen in the media". "It would not be wrong to say that the facts that have come out, it would be appropriate to call it a confession of the failure of the Congress," he said.
"Like every Indian, when we read this confession of the failures of the Congress, we were pained," Bhatia said."The book confirms that the Congress-led UPA government was insensitive, useless and was even not concerned about national security," Bhatia said, adding that the Manish Tewari, who was a minister in Congress rule, has admitted that his government had put national security at stake.
"Congress president Sonia Gandhi ji, Rahul Gandhi ji will you break your silence today? Sonia Gandhi ji, our question is why India's brave army was not given permission and free will at that time? Our Army was asking permission from former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ji that we will teach a lesson to Pakistan. But Sonia Gandhi ji why the army was not given this permission?" he asked.
As many as 166 people were killed in the Mumbai terror attacks carried out by 10 Pakistani terrorists at different places in the city. The attacks began on November 26, 2008, and went on till November 29.
Ajmal Kasab, the only terrorist who was captured alive, was hanged four years later on November 21, 2012.
READ MORE: Going soft after 26/11 was sign of weakness of Manmohan govt: Manish Tewari
