Congress veteren and former Union Home Minister P Chidambaram triggered a storm of criticism from the BJP with his recent remarks on why the UPA government had not attacked Pakistan after the deadly 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
Speaking to a news channel during a recent interview, Chidambaram revealed that attacking Pakistan in retaliation to the terror attack did cross his mind but the government decided against it due to global pressure.
"The whole world descended upon Delhi to tell us don't start a war," Chidambaram said.
"Condoleeza Rice, who was then US Secretary of State, flew in two 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 that the government will take. Without disclosing any official secret, it did cross my mind that we should do some act of retribution," the Congress leader said.
Chidambaram took over as the home minister days after the series of terror attacks that killed 175 people and left more than 300 injured. The series of attacks, including mass shootings and explosions was carried out by members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistani-based terrorist organisation.
Chidambaram said that he had discussed India's possible retaliation to the attack with the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and "other people who mattered."
"The Prime Minister had discussed this even when the attack was going on... And the conclusion was, largely influenced by the the Ministry of External Affairs, and the IFS, that we should not physically react to the situation," he recalled.
However, the remarks did not sit well with BJP leaders, who called it "too little, too late."
Union Minister Pralhad Joshi claimed that Chidambaram's admissions are something that the country already knew, that "26/11 mishandled due to pressure from foreign powers."
Calling the remarks "worrying," BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said, "This makes it clear what their inclination was regarding dealing with Pakistan. Just nine months after the 26/11 attacks, a joint declaration with Pakistan was signed in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, a neutral location in July 2009. It is both sad and astonishing that Balochistan was mentioned in this joint declaration. This means, in a way, they were ready to accept that falsehood as well."