Kozhikode: The shadow of Uri terror attack looms large over the BJP National Council meeting which started today with party leaders asserting that there can be no development without security.

As top party leaders arrived at a picturesque resort, the venue of the first day of the three-day exercise in this Malabar town with its president Amit Shah chairing key meetings, they said the nation expects them to articulate the prevailing mood in the country.

“This party belong to the people and recognises the mood of the people. Prime Minister Narendra Modi recognises the mood of the people. We are waiting and the whole country is waiting to hear him,” BJP spokesperson Shahmawaz Hussain told reporters. While the party’s ‘garib kalyan’ (welfare of poor) agenda will remain a key theme in the meeting of over 1,700 delegates being held in the birth centenary year of its ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyay, there is acknowledgement that it will have to address the concerns, especially of its cadres and nationalist constituency, in view of the terror attack. “When we talk of development, security is important. There cannot be development without security,” its National Secretary Sidharth Nath Singh said. “The result will be there, the desired result will be there on Pakistan,” he said when asked what action the government will take against Pakistan. 18 soldiers were killed when Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists attacked a highly-guarded army camp in Uri in Kashmir on Sunday morning, drawing outrage in the country. The Prime Minister said that those behind the depicable act will not go unpunished. The incident has also triggered a diplomatic dust-up with both India and Pakistan hitting out at each other including at the UN General Assembly. — PTI