PM Modi says Balakot strike hurt Mamata Banerjee more than Pakistan

Prime Minister Narendra Modi told a rally in West Bengal on Wednesday that the Indian air strike at Balakot in Pakistan had hurt Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee more than it hurt people in Pakistan.

Attack on the opposition

Modi said the strike had pained “Kolkata’s Didi” more than people in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, and claimed that other leaders of the opposition grand alliance were also upset. He said they had protested so loudly that they had become heroes in Pakistan.

He accused opposition leaders of trying to undermine the confidence of the armed forces by questioning their actions, calling it a conspiracy to weaken the military. He told the crowd that their vote was also a way of standing with the forces, and asked whether the strikes after the Pulwama attack had not made them proud.

AFSPA and the Congress manifesto

Modi also targeted the Congress’s election promise to review the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act in disturbed areas. He said the Congress wanted to tie the hands of soldiers facing stone-pelters and terrorists in Kashmir, and described the law as a shield that allowed the forces to do their job. He said the Congress lacked faith in the military and in the country’s laws, and claimed the “remote-controlled” UPA government had never given the forces a free hand.

What happened next

The Pulwama attack took place on 14 February 2019 and the Balakot strike on 26 February 2019. In the Lok Sabha election counted on 23 May 2019, the BJP won 303 seats. In West Bengal’s 2021 Assembly election, the Trinamool Congress won 215 seats and the BJP 77, and Mamata Banerjee remained Chief Minister.

See also: political leaders

Originally published on 3 April 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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