Congress leader P. Chidambaram on Thursday expressed disappointment and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of wrongly attributing comments to him on India's response to the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
“I quote the words of the Hon'ble Prime Minister: …has said that India was ready to respond after 26/11, but due to the pressure exerted by a certain country, the Congress government has stopped the armed forces of India from attacking Pakistan,” the former Home Minister said in a message on X.
“The statement has three parts, and each of them is WRONG, terribly WRONG,” he added.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday criticized the Congress party for not 'acting' against Pakistan after the 2008 Mumbai attacks, under pressure from abroad. The Prime Minister sought answers from the Congress Party when he made the decision at the time.
“It is disappointing to read that the Honorable Prime Minister of India coined these words and attributed them to me,” Chidambaram said on October 9.
The Prime Minister was referring to Chidambaram's recent comments where he admitted in a recent interview that the Congress-led UPA government had decided not to take revenge on Pakistan after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks under intense international pressure.
Prime Minister Modi in his speech in Navi Mumbai said that Congress should tell who took the decision under pressure from a foreign power.
“The country has every right to know. Congress's weakness strengthened the terrorists. The country has repeatedly paid for this mistake by sacrificing lives. For us, nothing is more important than national security and the safety of our citizens,” he said.
What did P. Chidambaram say?
The Congress leader revealed that “retaliation crossed my mind” but the government decided not to take military action.
“The whole world came to Delhi to tell us not to start a war,” Chidambaram said during a recent interview. Chidambaram took over as Union Home Minister days after the 26/11 terror attacks in which 175 people were killed.
“Condoleezza Rice, who was then the US Secretary of State, flew in two or three days after I took over to meet with me and the Prime Minister. And to say, 'please don't respond'. I said this is a decision that the administration will make. Without giving away any official secret, it occurred to me that we had to take some act of retaliation,” the congressional leader acknowledged.
What happened on 26/11 in Mumbai?
A group of ten Pakistani terrorists affiliated with Lashkar-e-Taiba carried out attacks on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj railway station; the Oberoi Trident, Taj Mahal Palace, Leopold Café, Cama Hospital and Nariman House on November 26, 2008 in what came to be known as the Mumbai attacks.
Ajmal Kasab, one of the terrorists captured by Mumbai police, was executed in 2012.
The statement has three parts, and each of them is WRONG, terribly WRONG.
Prime Minister Modi's comments in Mumbai assume significance as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has repeatedly cited India's response after the Mumbai attack as an example of the UPA's weakness on foreign policy and security issues.
The saffron party often compares the Congress-led government's response to the government's response to terror attacks through surgical strikes and more – in 2016 in response to the Uri terror attack, the 2019 Balakot airstrike in response to the Pulwama terror attack, and Operation Sindoor in 2025 in response to the Pahalgam terror attack.
