'Major Foreign Policy Setback': PM Modi's 2011 Tweet Targeting UPA On Tahawwur Rana Goes Viral

Last Updated:April 11, 2025, 00:06 IST

Narendra Modi, who was the Gujarat CM then, had criticised the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government after the US cleared Tahawwur Rana of charges in the deadly Mumbai terror attacks in 2008

Many internet users congratulated and credited PM Narendra Modi for the extradition of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks mastermind Tahawwur Rana. (Image: News18)

A social media post dating back to 2011 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is now going as India successfully extradited Tahawwur Hussain Rana, one of the masterminds of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. He had lamented the “major foreign policy setback" after the United States had declared the key accused “innocent".

Now, the post on X, then known as Twitter, is being lauded and shared by internet users. Modi, who was the Gujarat Chief Minister then, had criticised the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government after the US cleared Rana of charges in the deadly terror attacks in 2008.

“US declaring Tahawwur Rana innocent in Mumbai attack has disgraced the sovereignty of India & it is a ‘major foreign policy setback'", he had said.

Many internet users congratulated and credited Modi for the extradition of Rana, a 64-year-old Pakistani-born Canadian citizen who was arrested by the NIA as soon as he stepped of a special flight into the Delhi airport.

WHAT DID MODI GOVT, OPPOSITION SAY ABOUT ‘SUCCESSFUL’ EXTRADITION?

While the BJP asserted that Rana’s extradition is a big success of the Modi-led government, the Congress dismissed this by saying the NDA government did not initiate the process but benefited from the “mature, consistent and strategic diplomacy" that started under the UPA.

“Tahawwur Rana’s extradition is a big success of Prime Minister Modi’s diplomacy," Shah said at the ‘News18 Rising Bharat Summit’. He said the Modi government’s effort is to bring to justice those who attack India’s honour, land and people. “He will be brought here to face trial and punishment. It is a big success of the Modi government."

Shah also took a dig at the Congress, saying those who were at the helm at the time of the Mumbai terror attack in 2008 could not bring Rana to India to face the trial.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had arrested Rana in Chicago a year after the attacks in October 2009 for providing support for an aborted plan to attack a newspaper in Copenhagen (Denmark) and providing material support to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). He was convicted in 2011 in that case and sentenced to 14 years in jail. But, he was acquitted of charges of conspiracy to provide material support to the Mumbai terror attacks.

Congress leader and former home minister P Chidambaram, meanwhile, said the Modi government did not secure any breakthrough to make the extradition possible, nor is it the result of any grandstanding. He said it was a testament to what the Indian state can achieve when diplomacy, law enforcement and international cooperation are pursued sincerely and without any kind of chest-thumping.

“While the Modi government is rushing to take credit for this development, the truth is far from their spin," he said in a statement.

Chidambaram, who was the Union home minister from November 2008 to July 2012, said the coursework began on November 11, 2009, when the NIA registered a case in New Delhi against David Coleman Headley (US citizen), Rana, and others involved in the 26/11 conspiracy. “That very month, Canada’s Foreign Minister confirmed collaboration with Indian agencies, thanks to UPA’s effective foreign policy. The FBI had arrested Rana in Chicago in 2009 for supporting a failed LeT plot in Copenhagen," he said.

“Even though Rana was acquitted by a US court of direct involvement in the 26/11 attack in June 2011, he was convicted for other terrorism-related offences and sentenced to 14 years in prison. The UPA government publicly expressed its disappointment over his acquittal and kept diplomatic pressure alive," he added.

(With PTI inputs)

News politics 'Major Foreign Policy Setback': PM Modi's 2011 Tweet Targeting UPA On Tahawwur Rana Goes Viral