PM Modi Attacks Congress Over Mumbai 26/11 Terror Attack Response

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a scathing attack on the Congress party whilst inaugurating the Navi Mumbai International Airport on Wednesday, allegedly using former Union Home Minister P Chidambaram's recent admissions about the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks as political ammunition.

Without naming Chidambaram directly, Modi said the Congress-led government had given a message of weakness and kneeled before terrorism when Mumbai, India's economic capital, was targeted in 2008.

The Prime Minister's remarks apparently referred to Chidambaram's interview where the Congress leader revealed he had favoured retaliatory action against Pakistan but was overruled due to international pressure.

Chidambaram disclosed that then US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had flown to Delhi specifically to meet him and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, urging India not to react militarily.

"It did cross my mind that we should do some act of retribution," Chidambaram had said, but explained the government ultimately chose diplomatic measures over military action.

Modi demanded the Congress reveal who made the decision under foreign pressure, asserting the nation had the right to know.

"Congress must tell us who made this decision under foreign pressure, who played with Mumbai's national sentiment," he said, adding that this weakness had strengthened terrorists and weakened national security, with India repeatedly paying the price in lives lost.

The 26/11 attacks had killed 166 people, including foreign nationals, when ten Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists carried out coordinated shootings and bombings across Mumbai over three days in November 2008.

In stark contrast to the UPA's response, Modi highlighted his government's approach to terrorism, citing Operation Sindoor, launched after the April 2025 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 civilians.

"This is a new India that gives a fitting response, that attacks Pakistan on its own soil," he declared earlier, emphasising that nothing was more important than national security and citizens' safety.

The operation had targeted major terror infrastructure across the border, including Lashkar-e-Taiba headquarters in Muridke and Jaish-e-Mohammed facilities in Bahawalpur, demonstrating what Modi called India's new resolve against terrorism.

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