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Row after Manish Tewari slams UPA regime for ‘inaction’ after 26/11 attacks

BJP targets Gandhis for going soft on Pakistan post 26/11.

A fresh row erupted between the BJP and Congress after it emerged that Congress leader Manish Tewari, in his latest book, has criticized the inaction of the then UPA government after the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai and said that India should have “actioned a kinetic response” to “a state that has no compunctions in brutally slaughtering hundreds of innocent people”.

“Our actions should have spoken louder than our words”, Tewari says as per the excerpts of the book “10 Flash Points; 20 Years – National Security Situations that Impacted India” released by the Congress leader himself on his Twitter account. “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,” excerpts from the book read.

“It, therefore, is my considered opinion that India should have actioned a kinetic response in the days following India’s 9/11,” it added. Mumbai had come to a standstill on 26 November 2008, when 10 Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) terrorists who entered the city via sea route from Pakistan carried out a series of coordinated shootings and bombings that injured over 300 and claimed the lives of 166 people in India’s financial capital. The attacks took place at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) railway station, Cama Hospital, Nariman House business and residential complex, Leopold Cafe, Taj Hotel and Tower and the Oberoi-Trident Hotel.

The BJP on Tuesday launched an offensive against the Congress over Manish Tewari’s new book. Citing excerpts from Tewari’s book, the BJP alleged that the grand old party-led UPA government put India’s national security at stake by not responding strongly after the terror attack. “Tewari’s book confirms that the Congress-led UPA government was insensitive, useless and was even not concerned about national security,” BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said. “(With reference to) what Manish Tewariji said in his book, which we all have seen in the media, it would not be wrong to say that the facts have come out. It would be appropriate to call it a confession of the failure of the Congress…” Bhatia told reporters. “The gist of this book is that restraint can be considered weakness… India should have taken strict action (after the 26/11 attacks)… Today it became clear the Congress government was insincere, useless… they were not even concerned about issues like national security,” he added.

“Congress President Sonia Gandhiji, Rahul Gandhiji will you break your silence today? Sonia Gandhiji, our question is why India’s brave army was not given permission and free will at that time?” he said.

Bihar minister and senior BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain said he agrees with Tewari’s remarks about 26/11. “26/11 was the big incident and the action that we should have seen was missing that time. What Manish Tewari is saying is correct,” he said.

Union minister Pralhad Joshi, while refusing to “politicise” the issue, said that entire India knows how the overall situation was handled after incidents like 26/11. He added that the Narendra Modi government has zero tolerance towards terrorism.

Meanwhile, after the BJP lashed out at Congress over the issue of national security citing the excerpts from his new book, Manish Tewari on Tuesday asked if the BJP would react similarly to some “hard analysis” about their handling of national security. “I am rather amused at BJP reaction to one excerpt from a 304-page book that tries to dissect responses to national security situations that impacted India. I wonder would they react similarly to some hard analysis about their handling of the National Security Remit also?” Tewari tweeted.

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