We took bold steps to counter terror, Cong response timid: PM

Targeting the UPA regime on national security issues, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday said his government took bold steps to counter terrorism, compared to the timid approach adopted by the Congress-led regime.

Modi's remarks at a poll rally here in Nashik district of Maharashtra came a day after a terror attack in Sri Lanka killed 290 people in a series of eight blasts that tore through churches and luxury hotels in the island country.

The prime minister said that due to the bold approach adopted by his government, terrorism has been curbed in India and is confined only to some parts of Jammu and Kashmir.

Under attack from the Congress for not letting the Rafale contract go to the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Modi accused the opposition party of destroying the state-run enterprise. The HAL has a unit in Nashik.

The prime minister said his government has increased defence production under the 'Make in India' programme.

Campaigning for BJP-Shiv Sena alliance candidates from Nashik, Dindori and Dhule Lok Sabha constituencies, Modi said the Lanka blasts took place on Easter when people were sharing the message of peace.

"What was the condition in India before 2014? Bomb explosions would take place in corners of the country every now and then in Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Kashi (Varanasi), Ayodhya, Jammu," Modi said.

"What did the then Congress-NCP government do? Held condolence meeting, expressed grief. They went about crying in the world, saying Pakistan did this and that in our country," he said.

"But what did your chowkidar do? Your chowkidar changed this timid approach of the Congress-NCP government," Modi said.

In an apparent reference to the 2016 surgical strike and Balakot air strike carried out in February this year, Modi said the security forces barged into the "factory of terror and cleaned everything without any discrimination".

Modi said every terrorist is aware that "Modi would trace him even if he is hiding in the netherworld."