Greater Noida: Asserting that India now follows “nayi reeti, nayi neeti (new methods, new policies)” in dealing with terror, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday hit out at those seeking proof of IAF’s airstrike at Balakot in Pakistan and slammed the previous Congress government for its handling of terror attacks like the one in Mumbai in 2008.
Addressing a public meeting in Greater Noida, Mr Modi said India works on “nayi reeti, nayi neeti” (new methods, new policies), asserting that after the terror attack in Uri in 2016 the country for the “first time taught terrorists a lesson in a language they understand” with surgical strikes.
“After Uri (surgical strikes), proofs were sought. Our soldiers did something that had never happened before. Our soldiers struck terrorists inside their home. Terrorists and their guardians had not expected such action. They thought if India once did a surgical strike, they would again do something similar. So they had deployed forces along the border, but we went by air this time,” he said.
“Is it okay for you (the people) to have a government that does nothing? A chowkidar (referring to Prime Minister) who sleeps?” he asked.
Indirectly hitting out at the Congress for seeking proof of IAF airstrike at Balakot in Pakistan, Mr Modi hit out at the Opposition party’s government for its handling of terror attacks like the one in Mumbai in 2008.
Mr Modi said the country can never forget the 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai.
“India should have responded then and the whole world would have supported the country… But that required courage. All evidence was against terrorist handlers in Pakistan. But how did India respond? There are reports that our forces were ready to avenge the terror attack even then, but Delhi remained cold. The forces were not allowed to take any action,” he said.
Pointing towards terror attacks in India after 2008 whose links were found across the border, the Prime Minister questioned the previous government’ response.
“They did not change their policy, they only changed their home ministers... Had the previous government shown some courage and taught terrorists a lesson in their own language, terrorism would not have emerged as the menace it is now,” he said.
The PM said that after the pre-dawn Balakot airstrike on February 24, India was quietly monitoring the situation and it was Pakistan which started “crying” around 5 am that “Modi has hit us”.
“They were thinking they can keep wounding India, wage attacks, proxy wars and India would not respond. The reason the enemies of India could think so was because of the attitude of the ‘remote-controlled’ government prior to 2014. That is why the enemies could nurture this attitude,” he said.
Referring to Opposition’s blistering attacks on him, the Prime Minister said that some politicians are making controversial statements which elicit applause in Pakistan and urged the people to decide if they want to trust them or not.
“Aaj har bhrasht ko Modi se kasht hai (Today every corrupt person has a problem with Modi). There is a competition among them to abuse this chowkidar (watchman), they think abusing me will get them votes,” he said.
“They have turned so hopeless that in their stubbornness to oppose Modi, they have started opposing the nation also,” he said.
Addressing a public meeting in Ghaziabad on Friday, the Prime Minister had slammed rivals’ questioning the airstrike and said the “trust of 130 crore people” was his proof to them.
