‘Congress’ Weakness Strengthened Terrorists’: PM Modi Tears Into UPA Govt For Not Retaliating After 26/11 Attack

Mumbai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after inaugurating the Navi Mumbai International Airport on Wednesday, invoked the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, accusing the then Congress-led UPA government of lacking the resolve to respond decisively to terrorism that targeted the country’s financial capital.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, PM Modi said the 2008 attacks, which left more than 160 people dead, exposed how India’s leadership at the time failed to act despite clear provocation. The Prime Minister said, “The world knows where the orders came from, who trained and sent the terrorists. Yet, at that time, those in power in Delhi did nothing. They could not muster the courage to take decisive action.”

“This weakness of Congress strengthened terrorists,” PM Modi said, adding that the country had the right to know who stopped India from going ahead with a military retaliation after the Mumbai terror attack.

PM Modi said, “A Congress leader, who has also been Union Home Minister, has said that a country prevented India's military retaliation post-26/11 Mumbai terror attack in 2008. The party should clarify.”

He referred to statements by former Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, alleging that the previous government refrained from authorising a strong response even after intelligence agencies traced the origins of the attack to Pakistan. “When the country needed leadership that could give a clear message to the world, they chose silence. Today, India responds to terror in the language it understands,” PM Modi said.

Referring to Operation Sindoor after the Pahalgam terror attack, PM Modi said, “For us, nothing is more important than national security and the safety of our citizens.”

PM Modi’s remarks come days after former Union home minister P Chidambaram, in an interview, recounted that he was inclined towards retaliatory action against Pakistan after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks but was convinced against it.

The PM’s reference to 26/11 drew immediate political attention, with the Congress accusing him of politicising a solemn tragedy. Party leaders said the focus of the event should have remained on infrastructure and development rather than political attacks.

However, BJP leaders defended PM Modi’s remarks, saying the Prime Minister had merely reminded the nation of how India has transformed from “a restrained responder to a decisive power”.

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