Puri:
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday said the country could not give a befitting reply to the 26/11 Mumbai attackers. He made the remark after paying darshan at the Shree Jagannath Temple here. “It is a very sad day for all of us. Had Modi been the PM then instead of Manmohan Singh, things would have been totally different,” he told reporters.
On November 26, 2008, ten Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists from Pakistan arrived by sea route and in an indiscriminate fire killed 166 people, 18 of them security personnel, and injured several others during a 60-hour siege in Mumbai.
The Assam CM said PM Modi would have given a befitting reply to the attackers. “It is really sad that we could not give a proper reply,” he said. Mr Sarma, who was welcomed by the temple administration at the Lion’s Gate of the 12th-century shrine, said, “It is considered most pious to have darshan of the trinity during the last five days of Kartik month.” The Assam CM was accompanied by Puri MLA Jatany Sarangi and BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra.
He also proposed that his government will set up a yatri niwas in the temple town to facilitate the stay of the devotees visiting Jagannath temple from the north-eastern state. “I will write to the Odisha government to provide necessary assistance to construct a yatri niwas in Puri for the devotees coming from Assam to have darshan of Lord Jagannath,” he said.
Mr Sarma recalled he had earlier visited the temple alone. This time, he came with his family to seek the blessings of Lord Jagannath, he said.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
