Picture : ANI/X
Former Union minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram claimed that while India was ready for retaliation against Pakistan after 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, it decided not to after pressure from global community. Chidambaram’s candid talk after 17-years is bound to rattle the Congress .
According to media reports, Chidambaram, who was the Union Home Minister in the then-ruling Congress-led UPA government, led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in an interview to a TV channel, said “the whole world was descending upon Delhi to tell us don’t start a war.”
“For example, Condoleezza Rice, who was a then Secretary of State, flew in two day or three days after I took over to meet me and the Prime Minister and to say, please don’t react. I said this is a decision which the government will take,” Chidrambaram said.
“Without disclosing any official secret, it did cross my mind that we should do some act of retribution,” he added.
“… the Prime Minister had discussed this even when the attack was going on…And the conclusion was largely influenced by the MEA (Ministry of External Affairs) and the IFS (Indian Foreign Service) that we should not physically react to the situation,” the former Union minister said.
