Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, and other leaders paid tributes to the soldiers who laid down their lives during the 2001 Parliament attack on this day.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national president J P Nadda, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and others observed a minute’s silence at the Parliament to pay their tributes to the fallen soldiers.
“Today, we remember and pay heartfelt tributes to the brave security personnel martyred in the Parliament attack in 2001. Their courage and sacrifice in the face of danger will forever be etched in our nation’s memory,” Modi said.
President Droupadi Murmu said the sacrifice of the brave security personnel will not go in vain and reiterated India’s pledge to wipe out terrorism.
“On this day, 22 years ago, the nefarious plan of terrorists to eliminate the top line of political leadership of the country and damage our Temple of Democracy was foiled by the brave security personnel, including the nine who laid down their lives for the motherland,” she said in a post on ‘X’.
“Their sacrifice will not be allowed to go in vain as we reiterate today our pledge to wipe out terrorism — a threat to humankind everywhere — in all its forms and manifestations,” she added.
On December 13, 2001, terrorists form the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed outfits stormed the Indian Parliament. The attack took place just two years after the Kargil war in which India defeated Pakistan.