UPA govt's decision not to act against Pakistan after 26/11 amounted to treachery: Eknath Shinde

Mumbai: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Thursday said the UPA government's decision not to strike Pakistan after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack `due to foreign pressure' amounted to "treachery".

Speaking at the annual Dusshera rally of the Shiv Sena, Shinde referred to senior Congress leader and former Union minister P Chidambaram's remarks about the UPA government's decision not to resort to military action then.

"Hundreds of people died, and under someone's pressure you did not attack Pakistan. This is helplessness and cowardice. This is dishonesty with the country. It is treachery with the people of India," Shinde said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the armed forces responded strongly to the Pahalgam terror attack, he said, noting, "Blood was met with blood and cannons responded to bullets." Modi taught a tough lesson to Pakistan, sending out a message that no other country would come in between India and its neighbour, the Shiv Sena chief said. "It was only Modi who could say it, and we should be proud of it," he added.

In a recent podcast, Chidambaram suggested that he favoured military retribution following the 26/11 terror attack, but the UPA government eventually decided against such a move. He also noted that world powers, including the US, wanted India to not start a war.

"Who is Pakistan before us? A jackal cannot become a lion just by wearing its skin," Shinde further said, adding, " A lion is always a lion, and Prime Minister Modi is like a lion." Targeting the rival Shiv Sena (UBT), Shinde taunted that its Dusshera rally should have been held in Pakistan.

"Your rally should have been held in Pakistan and you should have invited Pakistan army chief Asim Munir as chief guest," he said, claiming that the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena questioned the valour of the Indian armed forces and "spoke Pakistan's language." Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders had said earlier that Shinde should hold his party's rally in neighbouring Surat and invite Amit Shah as chief guest.

"Our rally is in India, and if it is held in Surat, we will not hesitate to invite Union Home Minister Amit Shah. You have no moral right to criticise us," Shinde told the rival faction.

He also accused Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of echoing Islamabad's position.