Against the backdrop of the triple explosions in Mumbai on Wednesday, Modi said that had Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel been alive innocent people would not have lost their lives and terrorists would have been hanged by now. Patel was the country's first Home Minister and called the "Iron Man of India."
"Weak-kneed approach of today's Central government to fight terror has provided encouragement to terrorists to strike in India at their will," Modi said at a function at Sardar Patel University at Vallabh Vidhya Nagar near here
Modi said, "The demon of terrorism is responsible for killing so many people in the country. Had Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who united the country, been alive today, innocent people would not have lost their lives." "Those terrorists, whom the court had ordered to be sent to the gallows, would have been hanged by now, had Sardar Patel been alive," he said in an apparent reference to Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving Paksitani gunman in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack who is on the death row pending disposal of his appeals.
Noting that people of the country want the terrorists to be dealt with in a hard manner, Modi said human rights should not be granted to terrorists as they are not fit to be called human.
"Central government is very enthusiastic in bringing a law for communal violence, but has no time to root out terrorism," he added. The Chief Minister further said, "Countries across the world, including the US, have enacted tough laws and have put up a strong fight against terrorism, but India is being bombed repeatedly." "This is the time when people of India should take up the challenge of uprooting terrorism," he added.