VADODARA, Gujarat: Dec 11 (TNS): Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing a public rally in Vadodara late Sunday, asked his predecessor Manmohan Singh why he not showed the courage to order a surgical strike after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, despite the readiness of the Army.
He said after the Mumbai attacks, the Air Force had approached the then prime minister Singh with a plan for surgical strikes, but the government did not show the courage to order it.
“Under whose advice did he (Singh) do so,” Modi asked the gathering at the Navlakhi compound here.
“Someone who served at a high position in the Air Force has said that after 26/11, they went to the then prime minister with a plan for surgical strikes. Sadly, the then government did not show the courage to do that,” Modi said and cited the example of his government’s action in the aftermath of the Uri terror attack in September last year, which has been totally rejected by Pakistan.
Modi also questioned Congress leaders, including its vice-president Rahul Gandhi, for raising doubts over the surgical strikes.
“Are such secret matters to be discussed in public?” he asked, saying this was the difference between the NDA government and the UPA government.
Modi also wondered how a “secret meeting” between Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar and the former Pakistani high commissioner and other leaders from that country could take place without the knowledge of the Government of India.
Modi said when he was the chief minister of Gujarat, he used to take permission from the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government at the Centre before holding a meeting with a foreign dignitary.
