Mumbai attack accused Tahawwur Rana's extradition reflects "new India's" zero-tolerance resolve towards terrorism under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Bharatiya Janata Party said on Thursday while accusing the Congress of being soft on terror for "vote-bank politics".
The Congress, however, has said the Modi government did not initiate the process of Rana's extradition but benefited from the "mature, consistent and strategic diplomacy" that began under the United Progressive Alliance dispensation.
Rana, a key accused in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, is likely to be brought to India in a special flight on Thursday after all hurdles for his extradition were removed by the US, according to people familiar with the matter.
Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters, national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said Rana's extradition was a "big achievement" of the Modi government and its security agencies.
It is also a tribute to the security personnel who made the supreme sacrifice while fighting Pakistan-sponsored terrorists and a "big step" towards rendering justice to more than 160 people, including those from the US, Israel, France, Germany, Italy and other countries, killed in the attack, he said.
"This extradition is not an ordinary extradition. This is a reflection of new India's resolve which Prime Minister Narendra Modi had described in 2019, saying that if anyone dared to attack India's unity, integrity, respect and its innocent people, the new India would bring such terrorists to justice," Poonawalla said.
The BJP spokesperson said Rana was being brought back to make him face justice due to a "sea change" in the "attitude and mindset" of the government under Modi towards terrorism and terror attacks.
It represents a "new India" with zero tolerance towards Pakistan-sponsored Islamic terrorism, and one that ensures national policy is not driven by vote-bank politics, he added.
"Earlier, especially between 2004-14 (when the UPA was at the helm), there was not a single month when there was no major terror attack in some major city of India," Poonawalla said.
The erstwhile UPA government remained a "mute spectator" to terror attack incidents and did not take "concrete steps" against such terrorists and the sponsors of terrorism in India, he charged.
The BJP spokesperson claimed major terror attacks that occurred during the UPA rule had "almost stopped" in the past 10 years due to the Modi government's policy of zero tolerance towards terrorism.
"Earlier, there used to be a soft corner and soft approach towards terrorism in the name of vote bank," he said and added, "During the UPA regime, countries that actively supported terrorism were granted the status of most-favoured nation."
The BJP spokesperson also took on the Samajawadi Party, alleging it tried to release some blast accused in Uttar Pradesh because they belonged to a "particular religion".
"The terrorists involved in the Rampur blast, Varanasi blast and Sankat Mochan explosion were later convicted but one party tried to release them due to their religion," he said.
Referring to the UPA government, Poonawalla said multiple attempts were made to blame India for some of the terror attacks between 2004 and 2014 instead of exposing Pakistan for sponsoring terror -- be it the Samjhauta Express blast or the Mumbai attack.
Senior Congress leaders even tried to create a "fake narrative", alleging that these attacks, including the one in Mumbai, were conspiracies by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Hindus, he charged.
"Now that India has achieved a major success in connection with the 26/11 attack, will those people who had claimed that 26/11 was a conspiracy by the RSS or Hindus apologise? Will those who said that Indian agencies, not Pakistan, were responsible for this terror attack now apologise?" Poonawalla asked.
"Will those who only prepared reports on Pakistan-sponsored terrorism between 2004 and 2014 but failed to take any strong action, showing no respect for the martyrdom of our people and brave security personnel. Will the ruling party of that time now apologise for it?" he further questioned.
In a statement, senior Congress leader and former Union home minister P Chidambaram said the government did not secure any breakthrough to make Rana's extradition possible nor was it the result of any grandstanding.
"While the Modi government is rushing to take credit for this development, the truth is far from its spin," he said in a statement.
This extradition is the culmination of a decade-and-a-half of painstaking diplomatic, legal and intelligence efforts initiated, led and sustained by the UPA government in close coordination with the US, Chidambaram said.
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