New Delhi, Jan. 6: The Congress today asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to "introspect" over the failure in Pathankot and "fix responsibility", snatching the terror plank from the BJP that has in the past used it as a pet theme to attack rivals and project itself as nationalist.
"Terrorists reached the Pathankot base, India's biggest cantonment comprising nearly 50,000 troops, despite specific intelligence almost two days before the attack. This is an attack on India's sovereignty, honour and integrity and reflects a clear-cut failure of political leadership," said former home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, who was fielded by the Congress to take on the government.
"Why has the government not summoned their (Pakistan's) high commissioner and lodged a formal complaint? Why was the cabinet committee on security not called immediately? Who is responsible for not using the army stationed already in Pathankot and sending the NSG instead?" he asked.
To a question whether the Congress would demand the any minister's resignation, Shinde said: "It is for the Prime Minister to fix responsibility. It is clear the response was inadequate, there was a failure. Whoever is responsible should go, bureaucrats or ministers."
The Congress also alleged that terror attacks go up when the BJP is in power, pointing to the Kandahar hijack, the attacks on Red Fort and Parliament as well as the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.
Shinde brought up the release of terrorists by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in Kandahar.
"India has been facing these terror strikes primarily because the then BJP external affairs minister (Jaswant Singh) escorted dreaded terrorists, including Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, to Kandahar, during the hijack drama," Shinde said.
The Congress screened a short film containing Modi's anti-Pakistan statements when he was Gujarat chief minister, and claimed little action had been taken despite the spurt in terror incidents since he became Prime Minister.
"Modi had bitterly criticised the UPA, asking it stop writing love letters to Pakistan and give an answer in the language it understands. He also held a press conference in Mumbai amid the 26/11 attacks and criticised then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He accused Congress ministers of crying when the need was to give a befitting reply.
"Now in the last 19 months, there have been 900 ceasefire violations, 35 per cent rise in infiltrations and three major terrorist attacks. What decisive action have we seen?" Shinde asked.
The Congress asked why the government had "shied away from calling the attackers Pakistani terrorists".
"Why were the home and defence ministers fumbling and deleting tweets about the Pathankot operation after being contradicted by the home secretary? Does it show a definite lack of coordination in the Union cabinet even in tackling an issue as serious as terrorism?" Shinde asked.
Randeep Surjewala, the Congress's communications chief, later said the responsibility lay with the political leadership.
The BJP dismissed the charges, said the Congress had "no moral right" to question the government and declared the Pathankot battle the "most successful anti-fidayeen operation".
The party's chief spokesperson, Shrikant Sharma, said: "There was no civilian casualty, no damage to the air base although the perpetrators were armed with more weaponry than those who attacked Mumbai. Despite having proper inputs, 26/11 showed the Manmohan Singh government's strategy had failed. That was a government that slept, now you have a government that stays awake."
But the BJP leader did not answer any of the specific questions raised, avoiding a reply on how the militants managed to enter a forward military base and stay inside for so long.
