The Aditya Dhar directorial, ‘Dhurandhar: The Revenge’, has triggered an online trend wherein netizens are sharing news stories from the early 2010s to highlight the appeasement politics and grim state of affairs during the UPA era. A video of former Union Home Minister P Chidambaram defending his government’s deliberate inaction against Pakistan after the 26/11 Mumbai Islamic terror attacks has gone viral.
Chidambaram straightaway dismissed the idea of taking any strong action against Pakistan beyond diplomacy.
Appearing on an NDTV program in November 2009, hosted by journalist Barkha Dutt, P Chidambaram was asked why the Congress government failed to take any strong action against Pakistan despite there being credible evidence of Pakistani Islamic terrorist Hafiz Saeed’s involvement in the attacks that killed 175 innocent people in India.
Chidambaram simply asked: “What would you have done in my place?
He continued, “There will be no dialogue with Pakistan until they bring the perpetrators to trial and dismantle their infrastructure…”
November, 2009:
— Sensei Kraken Zero (@YearOfTheKraken) March 26, 2026
"Saaar we can't do anything agains Pakistan, saaar. It would be rash, saaar. We have brought pressure on Pakistan saaar. Cant do anything beyond that saaaaar."
And this was our Home Minister.
Absolutely shameful. pic.twitter.com/9uffBqZZxa
Chidambaram was asked that while he says that the UPA government has decided not to engage in dialogue with Pakistan until the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks are brought to justice, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh meets Pakistani leader in Sharm-el-Sheikh, and reaches out to Pakistan with a hand of friendship in Srinagar.
It is notable here that in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt, during a summit of the NAM in 2009, a foolhardy joint statement by Manmohan Singh with the Pakistani PM had effectively legitimised Pakistan’s allegations that India has been interfering in Balochistan.
Chidambaram defended PM Singh’s Sharm-el-Sheikh blunder, saying that people had “accepted” the government’s explanation in that regard in the Parliament.
Emphasising that the government’s diplomatic manoeuvring to press the Pakistani state to act against the perpetrators of 26/11, Chidambaram said that his government cannot indulge in any other “adventurous act”.
He cited PM Singh’s “Is there an option to go to war?” statement, and said, “Therefore, understand the realities of today’s geopolitics…. we have friends to put pressure on Pakistan…but beyond that, it would be rash to speculate any other kind of action.”
Congress government had remained a mute spectator after Pakistan orchestrated one of the deadliest terror attacks on Indian soil on 26th November, 2008. The UPA government did not even expel a single Pakistani diplomat after the Jihadi attacks in Mumbai, let alone taking military action against the hostile neighbour.
