‘Apologise to nation’: BJP to Cong on Chidambaram’s 26/11 revelation on US intervention
BJP leaders are firing back hard at Congress after former minister P. Chidambaram admitted the UPA government thought about striking back militarily after the deadly 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks but held off because of pressure from the US and diplomatic warnings.
In a recent interview, Chidambaram shared that just days after taking office, then-US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged him and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh not to react. “It’s a decision for the government to take,” he recalled telling her, though the idea of retaliation did pop into his mind. Singh even discussed options during the ongoing attacks, but the Ministry of External Affairs and top diplomats advised against any military move.
This revelation has sparked outrage from BJP heavyweights, who slammed Congress for weakness on national security and demanded apologies from Chidambaram and party chief Sonia Gandhi.
Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad called it no surprise. “We’ve been saying this for years. It was their weakness. Why is Chidambaram bringing it up now, after all this time?” he asked.
BJP MP Arun Sao went further, criticizing Congress’s approach to terror threats. “When a country faces a terror attack, the government shouldn’t bow to pressure,” Sao said. He praised Prime Minister Modi’s leadership, noting how India now delivers strong replies to cross-border terrorism. “Under Congress, it looks like they side with Pakistan—they question the Army, ignore the Constitution, and couldn’t care less about national security.”
Rameshwar Sharma, another BJP voice, said Congress leaders are finally spilling the truth. “If they’d admitted this back then, the nation would have booted them out right away,” he remarked. He pointed to former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who defied US pleas and went ahead with nuclear tests in 1998 for India’s pride. Sharma added that Modi has done the same with surgical strikes, and now “no one—not the US or China—can tell India what to do.” He insisted Chidambaram and Gandhi owe an apology, saying action after 26/11 could have stopped more attacks from Pakistan-based terrorists.
Asim Arun, yet another BJP leader, called the UPA era a time of “policy paralysis.” Everyone knew Pakistan was behind the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, he said, but Congress failed to act. In contrast, Modi responded decisively to the Pulwama and Pahalgam incidents. “That’s real leadership. Voters kicked Congress out for their failures, and they’ll keep supporting us for bold decisions,” Arun added.
The 26/11 attacks in 2008 killed 166 people in Mumbai, carried out by Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba militants. Chidambaram’s comments have reignited debates on India’s counter-terrorism strategy and how past governments handled threats from across the border.
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