Cong govt ignored intel on attacks, says BJP; PM Modi has struck terror roots

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on the 15th anniversary of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, has slammed the previous Congress-led UPA government and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, saying they had ignored the Intelligence inputs about the attacks.

The saffron party criticised the Congress over its stance on terrorism and terror attacks while praising the Narendra Modi-led Central government for "directly targeting the roots of terrorism".

The BJP said that due to the Modi government's policies, instances of terror attacks have declined drastically across the country.

Recalling the ghastly attacks that brought life to a screeching and bloody halt for three days in the country's financial capital Mumbai on November 26, 2008, BJP spokesperson Prem Shukla told IANS that then Defence Minister AK Antony later recalled that intelligence agencies had warned of the possibility of a terror attack by using the sea route.

According to Shukla, the former Defence Minister also said that despite the inputs, security was not tightened in the coastal areas due to which dozens of innocent lives were eventually lost in Mumbai.

Accusing Pakistan of not taking significant steps in response to the Mumbai attacks, the BJP leader claimed that the then Air Force chief had discussed with then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about the 'command centre' in Karachi from which Lashkar-e-Taiba was operating.

The BJP leader claimed that the Air Force chief explored the idea of attacking the command centre in Karachi, but Singh did not allow them to do so.

Shukla said that the situation, however, has changed after Narendra Modi came to power at the Centre in 2014.

"Two major terrorist attacks took place in Uri and Pulwama but the action that was taken in response demoralised the terrorists.

"PM Modi-led government not only took action against the terrorists by entering Pakistan but also entered Myanmar to leave the terrorist organizations spreading terrorism in the northeast paralysed. Due to such steps, the terrorists are scared of attacking India now," he said.

He also said that the terrorists -- whether they are in Pakistan or Canada -- now fear the Indian agencies.

Shukla added that the Congress-led regimes in the past from the 80s to 2000 have always been soft towards terrorism.

On the delay in taking action against the 26/11 perpetrators, the BJP leader said that "action will be taken against these terrorists only as per international law, because in other countries, they have patronage".

"However, India's campaign against terrorism continues. India has played an important role in shaping the discourse against terrorism at various global fora including the UN General Assembly, G-20, BRICS and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.