Overview

• In the interview, he recalled that then US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met him and the prime minister days after 26/11 and urged India not to “react.”
• He said the UPA leadership, influenced largely by the Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian Foreign Service, opted for diplomatic measures instead of military retaliation.
• BJP figures including Pralhad Joshi and Shehzad Poonawalla portrayed his comments as a late admission and questioned the roles of Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi.
• Congress leader Raashid Alvi criticized the timing, arguing the remarks only help the BJP and saying Chidambaram should have resigned if he disagreed then.
• On October 1, Chidambaram wrote that he never said the US “stopped” India from retaliating, calling that formulation a misquotation by media outlets.