‘No one can make India kneel’

Making it clear that India would not be cowed down by terror attacks as happened in Mumbai and Srinagar yesterday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, while applauding people in the two cities for the speed with which they had returned to normal lives, today outlined his government’s resolve to stamp out terrorism.

“No one can make India kneel,” Singh told the nation in a televised address. And with the attacks also aimed at India’s financial capital, he warned that no one could come in the path of the country’s progress. “The wheels of our economy will move on. India will continue to walk tall, and with confidence,” he said, indicating what may have been the motive behind the Mumbai blasts that killed nearly 200 people and injured nearly four times that number.

During his speech, the PM repeatedly praised the people of Mumbai and Srinagar, saying their resolve to bring life back to normal and their resilience was a counterfoil to the designs of the “enemies of the nation” and living proof of the country’s “contempt for terrorism”. “Mumbai,” he said, “stands tall once again as the symbol of a united India. An inclusive India.” Though he did not outline the strategy for combating terrorist violence or provide details of the state of the investigations into the serial blasts in the two cities, the PM made it clear: “We will win this war against terror. Nothing will break our resolve.” He is likely to visit Mumbai on Friday.