Overview

• Speaking at the inauguration of the Navi Mumbai International Airport and other projects, the Prime Minister asked Congress to disclose who stopped a planned military response after the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
• Modi referenced P. Chidambaram’s recent interview stating that diplomatic pressure, including a visit by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and the foreign ministry’s counsel shaped the decision not to strike Pakistan.
• He said the previous stance projected weakness, asserted that the country has a right to know who intervened, and argued that such choices emboldened terrorists.
• Contrasting past restraint with current doctrine, he pointed to Operation Sindoor as evidence that India now answers terror with deep precision strikes.
• Congress figures criticized the remarks as politicizing a tragedy, with Manish Tewari disputing Modi’s claims, while political coverage noted the speech doubling as a kickoff for Mumbai civic poll messaging.