Excerpts from his new book 10 Flash Points; 20 Years: National Security Situations That Impacted India reveal that Congress MP Manish Tewari was unhappy about the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government's supposed inaction after the 26/11 attacks.
Announcing the launch of the book on Tuesday, 23 November, Tewari stated on Twitter that the book “objectively delves into every salient National Security Challenge India has faced in the past two decades” and shared some excerpts from the book.
Speaking of the terror attacks of 26/11 in Mumbai, the excerpt reads,
"There comes a time when actions must speak louder than words. 26/11 was one such time when it just should have been done. It, therefore, is my considered opinion that India should have actioned a kinetic response in the days following India's 9/11.”
Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) IT Cell head Amit Malviya, reacting to the announcement said, “After Salman Khurshid, another Congress leader throws UPA under the bus to sell his book".
Malviya was referring to the recent controversy Salman Khurshid found himself in after he had compared ‘Hindutva’ to radical Islamic terror groups in his new book on Ayodhya.
However, also targeting the BJP’s decisions, Tewari has written,
“In July 2018, the defence and finance ministers of the subsequent Modi-led government shelved all the plans of raising a mountain strike corps against China citing financial constraints. Mounting pressure on the LAC leading to the Doklam crisis in 2017 could have been averted.”
He adds, “scrapping the mountain strike corps is perhaps the greatest disservice that this government did to India’s national security.”
With next year’s key elections in sight, Malviya further tweeted saying, "This muddled thinking on national security, made India a weak state under the Congress."
Members of the ruling party and its supporters have used Tewari’s excerpt to target Congress.
Union Minister Pralhad Joshi told news agency ANI that Manish Tewari has rightly said that the approach against terrorism during the UPA government was light. He added, “Congress should introspect what he has said.”
Meanwhile, Congress leader Adhir R Choudhary, reacting to the excerpt, said, "He (Tewari) should be focusing more on China that has captured many of our areas in Ladakh and built villages in Arunachal Pradesh. He is regaining consciousness now. Why has he not talked about it that time?" ANI reported.
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