Nirmala Sitharaman Slams Congress

Nirmala Sitharaman has slammed the previous Congress-led UPA government for not taking any conclusive action after the 26/11 Mumbai attack. Sitharaman indicated that the Indian Army at the time may have approached the government to take action against the matter. However, she said that there are "enough reasons to believe" that the government did not take a call.Her reply came after leaders from opposition parties, especially Congress, slammed the BJP for politicising the recent tension between India and Pakistan.

Many other leaders have taken a dig at the BJP over the recent Indian Air Force (IAF) air strike on Balakot on a Jaish-e-Mohammed camp across the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan.

In retaliation, BJP leaders have been citing the example of how there was no action taken after the Mumbai 26/11 terror attack, which killed over 170 people.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his recent rallies, also highlighted the point and assured people that "New India" will not be afraid to take constructive steps to eradicate terror.

Tension started escalating between India and Pakistan after at least 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed in a suicide bombing attack in South Kashmir's Pulwama region.

The Balakot air strikes were launched 12 days after a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber killed 40 CRPF soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama on February 14. Controversy arose after BJP chief Amit Shah claimed in an election rally that over 300 terrorists were killed in the attack even as the Air Force maintained that arriving at an estimate of casualties would not be possible.

The BJP has often targeted the Congress for not doing enough to avenge the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which resulted in the death of at least 170 people.