Speaker after speaker condemned Pakistan for orchestrating the 26/11 attack on Mumbai at an event titled ‘Mumbai Sankalp’ which was organised by Panchjanya at Taj Palace Hotel in Mumbai on November 25. A befitting tribute was paid to the martyrs of the 26/11 terrorist attack which was the brainchild of Pakistan’s ISI. Interaction with eminent personalities on the subject of national security brought alive several revelations.
Pointing out that 26/11 was such a wound that can never be healed, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who was chief guest on the occasion, said that his Government is committed to ensure that such an incident never takes place again. “There was an intelligence input but the Government of the day (Congress-led UPA Government) could not act on it and there was no coordination,” he further said.
Shri Fadnavis said only after the attack, the need for surveillance through CCTV was stressed. “From 2009 onwards, tenders were issued and cancelled but the project never took off. Only when I took over as CM of Maharashtra in 2014 that the project got momentum and its first phase was completed in one year,” he added.
The State Government, the Deputy CM said, will also install face recognition cameras which use artificial intelligence to enhance security. “Security on the seas has also been strengthened”, he added.
Thanking the Central Government for its handling of the situation post-26/11 attack, Fadnavis said, “Due to the Modi Government’s efforts, the deposition of terror convict David Headley, lodged in a US prison, was recorded in the 26/11 attack case, and it brought to light how Pakistan and its intelligence agency ISI were involved in the attack.”
In conversation with Panchjanya Editor, Hitesh Shankar, National Executive Member of Rashtriya Swayamevak Sangh, Ram Madhav said that “Now India is not the most terrorist-afflicted country, but the most retaliatory country against terrorism. India is now capable of eliminating terror. There is no Islamophobia in the world, and Indonesia has also said this.”
Ram Madhav further said that, whether the world’s resolve to fight terror is still intact or not is a big question. “How did terrorists enter India, who is funding them? There are many such questions.”
Pointing out that on multiple occasions the police stand isolated in the courts, Ram Madhav argued that this is due to some NGOs supporting terrorists. “This is also an irony. You cannot remain liberal in terror. Countering terror should not be limited to killing terrorists only, their source of funding should also be destroyed.”
Former Army Chief and Union Minister General VK Singh made a big revelation that in earlier regimes, armaments costing Rs 15 to 20 lakhs were sold to the Army at inflated prices—as high as one crore. “There are many things like this inside the bureaucracy which were a hindrance in the Army’s way,” he said.
Noting that Pakistan’s way of working is very brutal, General VK Singh said earlier whenever any incident happened, we used to say that we condemn, and then strongly condemn. “But now we say that we condemn, but if this happens again, we will not simply condemn; we will kill by entering your territory.”
General VK Singh said that Ukraine’s operation was a big success as it shares borders with many countries. “The main country was Poland, through which people were brought back. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plan was effective in handling this crisis,” he added.
Padma Shri awardee and Senior Advocate Ujjwal Nikam, while speaking with Organiser Editor, PrafullaKetkar, said that “many people would think that I got Kasab hanged, but I do not consider it a big victory. The challenge I faced during Kasab’s trial was Pakistan. To expose the real face of Pakistan, the force behind the terrorist and how to bring it on record was a big challenge for me”.
After the attack on Mumbai, the Central Government opined that there should be a separate trial on Kasab, so that he could be hanged as soon as possible. “But was Kasab a foot soldier? The power and the place where the sinister conspiracy was hatched lay outside our country. The conspiracy took shape in Pakistan. If we had gone that way, we probably could not have shown the real face of Pakistan to the world,” he added
Commenting on cinema in today’s times, eminent film director Dr Chandraprakash Dwivedi said a controversy erupted recently when an actress wrote ‘Hi Galwan’. “At that time, Akshay Kumar advised that actress. On this, people cornered Akshay Kumar on social media. I remember that when ‘Chanakya’ was released, a newspaper had written saffron for breakfast. When I see those newspapers and Editors today, I feel that they all have to think in the national interest. The Hindu society and the Hindu leadership were formed because of this. When I say Hindu, I do not exclude Muslims from this.”
The event ended with an address which was delivered by Governor of Maharashtra, Bhagat Singh Koshyari. He bowed down to the martyrs of 26/11, who sacrificed their lives.
