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BJP lambasts Congress as Manish Tewari’s book questions UPA over 26/11 attacks response

Tewari’s opinions are from his newly launched book '10 Flash Points; 20 Years' - National Security Situations that Impacted India' which looks at India’s National Security Challenge in the past two decades.

BJP lambasts Congress as Manish Tewari book questions UPA over 26/11 attacks response-dnm
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New Delhi, First Published Nov 23, 2021, 5:21 PM IST

New Delhi: Congress MP Manish Tewari questioned India’s response to the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks in his latest book that was officially released on December 2, almost coinciding with the anniversary of the Mumbai attacks. In the book, he has said that the country should have taken an “actioned a kinetic response" against Pakistan in the days following the attacks.

Tewari’s opinions are from his newly launched book '10 Flash Points; 20 Years' - National Security Situations that Impacted India' which looks at India’s National Security Challenge in the past two decades.

“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. It, therefore, is my considered opinion that India should have actioned a kinetic response in the days following India's 9/11,” excerpts from the book says.

Meanwhile, the ruling BJP - which ripped into the Congress and Khurshid for his book - has slammed its rival over Tewari's book as well, calling it a “confession of the failures of the Congress”.

Reacting to it, BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya tweeted, “After Salman Khurshid, another Congress leader throws UPA under the bus to sell his book. Manish Tewari in his new book slams the UPA for weakness in the name of restraint post 26/11. Air Chief Marshal Fali Major is already on record saying IAF was ready to strike but UPA froze.”

“Just y’day, Mani Shankar Aiyar questioned defence spending, today Manish Tewari rues UPA’s weak response to 26/11. PC as HM wanted to launch an offensive against Naxals, Digvijaya Singh opposed. This muddled thinking on national security, made India a weak state under the Congress,” he said in another tweet.

BJP's Gaurav Bhatia also raised the issue at a press conference and said this confirms that the UPA government was “useless”. “(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 that have come out. It would be appropriate to call it a confession of the failure of the Congress...” Bhatia told reporters.

 The Congress leadership will have to deal with a second book in a month, which could stir another controversy. Earlier, Salman Khurshid's book created a controversy where he compared Hindutva with IS and Boko Haram.

The 26/11 attacks saw over 160 people murdered as terrorists went on a rampage across Mumbai. Nine terrorists were killed and the lone surviving attacker - Ajmal Kasab - was arrested and executed on November 11, 2012. This gruesome attack took place when the Congress-led UPA was in power. Between 2012 and 2014 Tewari was the I&B Minister in the second UPA government. This week will mark the 13th anniversary of those horrific attacks.

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