Former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit Former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit

Delhi Congress chief Sheila Dikshit on Thursday said, “Manmohan Singh, yes I agree with you, was not as strong and as determined as he (Modi) is.” The three-time chief minister said this when asked to respond on the criticism that the UPA government did not do much after the Mumbai terror attack in 2008. She added, “but there is also a feeling that he is doing all this for politics.”

Tweeting an excerpt, journalist Vir Sanghvi, who had interviewed Dikshit, said, “I asked her if people would vote for Modi because of his record on national security. This is what followed. Judge for yourself if it is a ringing endorsement of Modi.”

Here is the transcript of the controversial part of the Sheila Dixit interview. I asked her if people would vote for Modi because of his record on national security.

This is what followed. Judge for yourself if it is a ringing endorsement of Modi. pic.twitter.com/zxIokWqPkY — vir sanghvi (@virsanghvi) March 14, 2019

According to the transcript:

Dikshit: That (Balakot airstrike) is nothing strong, it is something anybody would do in that place

Vir: But he didn’t. Manmohan Singh didn’t do after the Mumbai attack

Dikshit: Manmohan Singh’s…yes I agree with you wasn’t strong or as determined as he is perhaps but then there is also the feeling that he is doing it all for politics, not that he wants to, not out of the sense of

Later, Dikshit tweeted: “I have seen some media is twisting my comments made in an interview. Here is what I said – it may seem to some people that Mr Modi is stronger on terror but I think this is a poll gimmick more than anything else.”

The Manmohan Singh government had decided against a military response to the terror attacks on Mumbai at the end of November 2008. Over 150 people were killed in indiscriminate firing by terrorists at Taj hotel and other places in Mumbai on November 26, 2008.

I have seen some media is twisting my comments made in an interview. Here is what I said – it may seem to some people that Mr Modi is stronger on terror but I think this is a poll gimmick more than anything else.. — Sheila Dikshit (@SheilaDikshit) March 14, 2019

The Manmohan Singh-led UPA government, during its decade-long rule, convinced itself that military confrontation with Pakistan would not produce any significant political gains — either in the reduction of cross-border terrorism or in the resolution of political disputes with Pakistan.

However, under PM Modi’s tenure, the Army conducted surgical strikes across the Line of Control in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir in September 2016 after a terror attack in Uri.

Following the Pulwama attack, where 40 CRPF personnel were killed by a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber, the Indian Air Force conducted airstrikes inside Pakistan and targeted terror camps in Balakot.

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