India will never forget the wounds inflicted during 2008 Mumbai terror attacks: PM Modi

On the 12th anniversary of the Mumbai terror attacks on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India will never forget the wounds inflicted during the 2008 attacks and added the country is now combating terrorism with new policies. Modi also paid tribute to the policemen and all the citizens who lost their lives in the attacks. “Today is associated with the biggest terrorist attack on the country. In 2008, terrorists from Pakistan attacked Mumbai Many Indians died in this attack. People from many more countries were killed. I pay my respects to all those killed in the Mumbai attack,” he said.

The Prime Minister also paid obeisance to the security forces who he said are trying to defend India and are thwarting conspiracies like Mumbai attacks.

On November 26, 2008, terrorists of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) had carried out 12 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks lasting four days across Mumbai. At least 166 people, including six Americans and nine terrorists, were killed and more than 300 others were injured in the attacks. The Taj Mahal hotel, the Oberoi hotel, the Leopold Cafe, the Nariman (Chabad) House and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus train station were some of the locations targeted.

The Prime Minister was addressing a conference of presiding officers of legislative bodies marking the celebrations of Constitution Day in Gujarat’s Kevadia. The Lok Sabha has organised the two-day conference at the banks of the Narmada River to celebrate the Constitution Day. The theme of the event is “Harmonious Coordination Between Legislature, Executive and Judiciary - Key to a Vibrant Democracy.”

The Prime Minister said that right from the role of the judiciary, executive and legislature, rules about their decorum is defined in India’s Constitution. “In the 70s, we saw how there was an attempt to dissolve the dignity of separation of power, but the country got the answer only from the Constitution,” he said.

“After that period of emergency, the system of checks and balances became stronger and stronger. The legislature, executive and judiciary all three learned a lot from that period and moved forward,” he added.

Modi also spoke about the strength of the Constitution, which he said made it possible to conduct assembly elections in Bihar even during the coronavirus pandemic. “The world has also seen the strengthening of our electoral system at the same time in Covid-19. It is not so easy to have elections on such a large scale, results on time, the formation of a new government smoothly. The strength we have got from our constitution makes it easy for all such difficult tasks,” he said.

President Ram Nath Kovind, vice president and Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani were among those who addressed the programme on Wednesday.

Expressing happiness over the theme, the President said on Wednesday that all the three organs of state - the executive, the legislature and the judiciary - have been working in harmony and the tradition has taken strong roots here in India. He exuded confidence that India’s democratic system will be further strengthened by adopting the conclusions drawn from the deliberations during the conference.