Rivalling parties such as those from the NDA coalition (i.e. the BJP) have often claimed that the Congress party and other UPA coalition members might be too soft on Islamic extremist and fundamentalist ideologies and actions such as Islamic terrorism and Islamism by scrapping the Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act (POTA) immediately after it won the elections in 2004. Senior BJP leaders such as Nitin Gadkari and Narendra Modi have accused Congress Party of being soft on Indian terrorist groups such as Indian Mujahideen for the sake of vote bank politics.

Congress and its allies are insulted by political rivals for not retalliating against Islamic terrorists in Kashmir and solely focusing on the issues of the Indian Muslim community to gain Muslim votes. Kashmiri Pandits have been in exile since January 1990 following the outbreak of terrorism in Kashmir.

Softness shown towards religious extremism and terrorism
The post-Indira era
Bribes to Members of Parliament
1975-1977: State of Emergency