Mumbai: Training his guns on the Congress, using former Union minister P Chidambaram's remarks as ammunition, PM Narendra Modi has said the Opposition party had succumbed to international pressure in deciding not to take retaliatory action against Pakistan after the 26/11 attacks. In a recent interview, Chidambaram, who took over as India's Home Minister after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, said he was inclined towards retaliating against Pakistan, but the government decided to exercise restraint after global pressure not to start a war.

The Congress leader said then US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had also travelled to New Delhi to meet him and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and urged India not to take military action. Referring to Chidambaram's remarks - without naming him - during the inauguration of the Navi Mumbai International Airport on Wednesday, Modi said Mumbai, which is India's economic capital, was targeted in 2008, but the Congress-led government gave out a message of weakness and of kneeling in front of terrorism.

"A senior Congress leader, who has also served as India's Home minister, claimed recently that India's armed forces were ready to attack Pakistan after 26/11. The country also wanted the same thing, but if the Congress leader is to be believed, the government stopped the forces from attacking Pakistan because of pressure from another country," the PM said.

PM Modi said in his Navi Mumbai speech that the Congress needs to tell who made the decision under pressure from a foreign power. "The country has all right to know. Congress's weakness strengthened the terrorists. The country repeatedly has had to pay for this mistake by sacrificing lives. For us, nothing is more important than national security and the safety of our citizens," he said.