New Delhi [India], July 30 – Senior BJP leader and Indian Union Minister JP Nadda on Wednesday sharply criticized the previous Congress-led UPA government for what he called a legacy of “appeasement and inaction” in the face of repeated terror attacks linked to Pakistan.
Speaking during a special debate in India’s Parliament on Operation Sindoor, Nadda said that while Pakistan-backed militants carried out bombings and attacks across Indian cities, the Congress government continued peace overtures, including trade and tourism engagement with Islamabad.
“While they kept firing bullets at us, we went ahead to offer them biryani,” Nadda remarked in Hindi, accusing the previous administration of prioritizing confidence-building measures over national security.
Citing major attacks such as the 2005 Delhi blasts, 2006 Varanasi bombings, and the 2006 Mumbai train bombings, he alleged that Congress took no strong retaliatory action. Instead, he said, India continued with policies that enabled cross-border trade and travel through a triple-entry permit along the Line of Control (LoC).
He also criticized the UPA government for failing to mention the 2008 Mumbai attacks at the 2009 Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit. “We had the same police, the same Army, but no political will,” Nadda said.
Referring to statements by past ministers, Nadda claimed one former defence minister had argued that “undeveloped borders are safer” and that a former home minister admitted being afraid to visit Kashmir.
In contrast, he said, the current government’s response to the 2016 Uri terror attack marked a shift in India’s counter-terror posture. “It was the first time since 1947 that a Prime Minister came on record and said that those behind a terror attack will not be spared,” he said. The surgical strikes that followed destroyed terror launchpads across the LoC within 72 hours, he added.
Nadda concluded by asserting that from 2014 to 2025, there had been no major terror attacks in India outside of Jammu and Kashmir, a claim meant to highlight what he described as the BJP government’s stronger national security record.