For Congress party, the tryst with anti-terror politics and administration is generally not good.

Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 64, a Canadian citizen born in Pakistan, and charged with helping Lashkar terrorists during 26/11operation in 2008 has been extradited to India.
A multi-agency team of security and investigation officials were sent to collect him.
His extradition has a significance on two folds – investigation and fight against terror and political because the fallout could be immense.
A few years back – after more than a decade since 26/11 (2008), Congress MP Manish Tewari called for ‘kinetic response’ against terrorism. Why ? Before that lest us see what did he say.
"For a state that has no compunctions in brutally slaughtering hundreds of innocent people, restraint is not a sign of strength; it is perceived as a symbol of weakness," wrote Congress leader Manish Tewari in his book.’10 Flashpoints : 20 Years’. He also wrote –
"There comes a time when actions must speak louder than words. 26/11 was one such time when it just should have been done. It, therefore, is my considered opinion that India should have actioned a kinetic response in the days following India's 9/11”.
In 2008 as tension prevailed in India as well as the South Asian region after the days of ordeal, US Senator John McCain had warned Pakistan that if it didn't act fast to arrest the "Bad Guys" he had personal information that India would launch air strikes on "terrorist camps" in Pakistan.

The Mumbai Siege was India's 9/11

However, 2008 was not 2001, neither Pakistan was Afghanistan not India has been America. One point was missed – the Congress-led UPA was not BJP-led NDA especially under India’s incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Eleven years after 2008, India under Modi conducted two aerial operations against Pakistan.
So in 2025 as the 26/11 plotter Tahawwur Rana's extradition from US materialises, analysts have reasons to believe that the episode may be suitably used to embarrass India's grand old party. All these will happen at a time the Congress held a two-day conclave in Ahmedabad and also within days Indian Parliament have given the nod to the new Waqf Bill as was piloted by the NDA dispensation.
Pakistan has betrayed an element of guilty conscience and has said that Rana is a Canadian citizen.
In today’s polity; the Congress is not only regarded as an anti-Hindu; it is also generally dubbed as pro-Muslim party. That might not have been a major issue. But the Congress has more often gone ‘soft’ and even clueless against Pakistan just to pursue its infamous ‘Muslim appeasement’ card in India's internal politics.
Of course the Mumbai attacks in 2008 were only one of the series of terrorist attacks on Indian towns and cities in 2008. Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Delhi, Guwahati, Jaipur and Malegaon have all seen serial bomb blasts.
Several people were killed and wounded.
Under UPA, of course there were police actions and a number of people were arrested as suspects, both Hindus and Muslims.
These indicated that something was going wrong somewhere under the Congress-led UPA. Even a term ‘saffron terrorism’ was floated by the then Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde almost giving clean chits to Pakistan or even Lashqar terrorists.
In Mumbai attack (26/11); a total of 166 people, including six Americans, were killed in which 10 Pakistani terrorists laid a more than 60-hour siege, attacking and killing people at vital locations in Mumbai.
The strike claimed lives of 20 security personnel and 26 foreigners more than 300 were injured.
In 2024 highlighting the Modi government’s approach, Home Minister Amit Shah stated, “Terrorism is a blot on the entire human civilisation. The Modi government’s ‘zero tolerance’ policy against terrorism has been appreciated by the entire world, and today India has become a world leader in anti-terrorism initiatives.”
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also marked the occasion with a heartfelt tribute.
“On the anniversary of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, the nation remembers those who lost their lives that fateful day. ..... We remember, and we will never forget those wounds,” the Defence Minister posted on X.
Rana had reportedly travelled to Mumbai between November 11 and 21, 2008, via Dubai. He helped in facilitating travel documents for David Coleman Headley (alias Dawood Gilani), a Pakistani-American who conducted reconnaissance of key targets in Mumbai. These locations were later attacked by LeT terrorists (26/11) with logistical and strategic backing from Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
While no terrorist attacks on the scale of Mumbai have occurred since 2008, terrorism remains an ever-present danger and an issue of mistrust for India as far as Pakistan is concerned.
It is also true that for years Hafiz Saeed, also prime suspect for 26/11, has lived the life of a respectable man in Lahore as the head of the Jamaat-ud Daawa, which many believe is a front organization for the Lashkar-e-Taiba.
He 'recruited' young boys for his own bigoted jehad with his twisted, fiery sermons.
The UN had imposed sanctions on the Jammat-ud-Daawa.
All these and more will come into focus once interrogators start grilling Rana.
Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley was in touch with 2008 Mumbai terror attacks plotter Tahawwur Rana and called him more than 32 times when he first visited India to conduct recces on September 14, 2006, according to the NIA.

Political Plot

As goes the dynamism and vibrancy of Indian democracy; the political flavour of the debate on terrorism cannot be missed.
The BJP under Modi has made a virtue of going strong against terrorism. The BJP also has its own way of handling other softer issues linked to Muslims such as Triple Talaq, Ram Mandir (on the spot of disputed Babri Masjid) and more lately the Waqf Bill.
Team Modi believes the passage of Waqf Bill has demoralised Congress and other Opposition parties because all of them have been put on some sort of predicament.
The Waqf Bill passage in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha – as was also supported by two-Andhra based parties TDP and YSRCP – shows that the BJP’s strategy to expose and defeat those who thrive in blackmailing has been exposed.
"If you do not do things as per our ways; who knows what we can do" - --- for long this dictum worked for India's secular parties.
This particularly was for Muslims and for long the Congress, communists and other political parties respected that 'fear mongering' and encouraged a mix of appeasement and accommodation.
BJP leaders say a ‘market strategy of blackmail’ was set into motion. If you bring the Bill, we will debate, stage drama and stall the Bill in the level of a select committee.
At the next stage, we will create fears in JD-U of Nitish Kumar and TDP of N Chadrababu Naidu. And even further --- we know how to threaten Biju Janata Dal and YSRCP of Andhra Pradesh.

What will happen to the Muslim votes of these regional parties?

Bihar goes to the polls later this year. But the Modi government did not blink. It gave a clear message to allies such as JD-U and TDP. It also sent in emissaries to YSRCP and Biju Janata Dal camps.
Ultimately, the game called 'blackmail' was defeated.
The issue of terrorism offers some lessons for political parties. The BJP thinks taking a tough stance will not only help itself; it also goes well with its allies such as TDP and JD-U who also bank on Muslim support base.
Then, the next question comes - what lessons do Congress and other opposition parties seem to have learned from the Mumbai’s 26/11 and other terrorism related cases? Is elimination of terrorism a separate debate from how does it help the BJP in the polls?
These issues have perhaps generally backfired on the Congress.

Email:----------------------nirendelhi@gmail.com