Accusing Pakistan of carrying out the recent Red Fort blast that claimed at least 10 lives, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said that the neighbouring country was orchestrating terror attacks as it cannot defeat India in a “straightforward war”.
“Pakistan knows it cannot defeat India in a straightforward war, and hence the terrorist attack in Pahalgam and the recent blast in Delhi took place,” Fadnavis said on Saturday as he lauded security agencies for busting the white collar terror module in which 3,000 kg of ammunition was retrieved that was reportedly to be used to conduct terror strikes in Mumbai and other cities.
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"I am glad that today we have a changed India. India first sensed these things and conducted operations... their intentions were to detonate bombs in every corner of India, and many cities of our country, including Mumbai, were their targets. But when our Indian agencies sensed this and directly attacked them, they demonstrated their presence by carrying out an explosion in Delhi," the Maharashtra chief minister was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
{{/usCountry}}"I am glad that today we have a changed India. India first sensed these things and conducted operations... their intentions were to detonate bombs in every corner of India, and many cities of our country, including Mumbai, were their targets. But when our Indian agencies sensed this and directly attacked them, they demonstrated their presence by carrying out an explosion in Delhi," the Maharashtra chief minister was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
{{/usCountry}}"PM (Narendra) Modi has said terror and talks can not go together, and gave freedom to the armed forces to take action. Through Operation Sindoor, the world saw India's might. India is a strong country, and the war (against terror) is not over," Fadnavis added further.
Fadnavis was speaking at an event at the Gateway of India to mark the upcoming 17th anniversary of the 26/11 attack. The event "Global Peace Honours: Remembering the Heroes of 26/11 and Victims of Pahalgam Attack" was organised by the Divyaj Foundation headed by Fadnavis's wife Amruta Fadnavis.
"Though 17 years have passed, there is still pain in our hearts," Fadnavis further said remembering the ghastly Mumbai terror attack in which Pakistani terrorists attacked the city, claiming 166 lives in at least 12 bombing and shooting attacks for four days. The terrorists belonging to Pakistan's Lashkar-e-Taiba had allegedly entered Mumbai via sea route.
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Fadnavis said it was not merely an attack on Taj and Trident hotels. Mumbai is the economic capital of India, and an attack on the city was an attack on the sovereignty of the country, he said.
"Had we understood this and showed the courage to conduct an 'Operation Sindoor' then, nobody would have dared to attack us again," he said. In May 2025, India targeted terror infrastructure across the border following the terror attack in Pahalgam in April 2025 in which at least 26 tourists were killed.