'I was in favour of action on Pakistan, but...': P Chidambaram on India's response to 26/11 attacks

P Chidambaram

Congress leader and former Home Minister P Chidambaram on Sunday said after taking over the Home Ministry from Shivraj Patil post his resignation days after the tragic Mumbai attacks in November 2008, he was in favour of a retaliatory measure against Pakistan, but officials from the Ministry of External Affairs were of the firm view that diplomacy and extensive dialogue should primarily be used to contain the situation.

On 26 November 2008, 10 Pakistani terrorists launched deadly attacks across Mumbai, killing 166 and injuring hundreds, before being neutralised by security forces on November 29.

Hours after the then incumbent Home Minister Shivraj V Patil resigned owing moral responsibility for the Mumbai terror attacks, the worst the country had seen, Chidambaram was handed over the Home Ministry. In an interview to ABPNews, the lawyer-politician categorically stated that he was against the decision to transfer him to the Home Ministry from the Ministry of Finance.

Recounting the decision to move him from the Finance Ministry to the Home Ministry, the veteran leader said he was not in favour of shifting to the Home Ministry. "I got a call from the Prime Minister, where the PM communicated that the there was a collective decision (by the then Congress President Sonia Gandhi and former PM Manmohan Singh) to shift him the Home Ministry. I did not want to exit the Finance Ministry as I had had presented five Budgets and election was due in a year's time," recalled Chidambaram.

Chidambaram took over the charge of the Union Home Minister soon after the 26/11 attacks. It was he who mooted the idea of setting up of the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) and the National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID).

While the plans for the NCTC has been put into cold storage due to opposition by several chief ministers, including Narendra Modi when he was the Gujarat chief minister, the progress of NATGRID is reported to be very slow.

Explaining how the officials from Ministry of External Affairs constantly maintained that the tension between the nations must be resolved through constructive engagements and not with military aggression, Chidambaram goes on to say that it was the MEA officials who prevailed and convinced the govt that attacking Pakistan was a bad idea and that dealing through diplomatic means was the best option available.