As March, the month of Bangladesh’s independence, comes to an end one name needs to be remembered, the name of Srimati Indira Gandhi whose contribution to the Liberation War of Bangladesh will remain permanently curved in the history of Bangladesh. Noble Laureate Rabindranath Thakur nicknamed Indira as Priyadarshini, 'meaning looking at everything with kindness'.

1971 would have been much more painful, and our Liberation War prolonged had not Indira Gandhi taken the decision to be on our side in those difficult hours of need. Under her leadership virtually entire India, specially the people of the neighbouring states stood by our side and shared our agony. It was her brilliant statesmanship which played a major role in taking the tragedy of the war in Bangladesh to the rest of the world.

Indira Gandhi was following the events of post 1970   election in Pakistan. Like everyone else she also desired a peaceful transfer of power to the elected representatives of the people. She was very much aware that any unrest in the neighbourhood may have fallout in India. But nothing in Pakistan ever ends peacefully.

On the night of March 25/26 1971 Pakistani forces unleashed the ‘Operation Search Light’ to annihilate the people of Bangladesh. The subsequent nine month saw the unfolding of one of the worst genocide in human history.

Remembering PriyadarshiniFollowing the army crackdown, most of the senior Awami League leaders crossed into India. One such leader was Tajuddin Ahmad. He was one such person who could assess the situation and take the right decision. The Awami League leadership knew that the future is to a great extent uncertain and anything meaningful to happen they must get support from India.

Professor Rehman Sobhan, Professor Anisur Rahman and Professor Amartya Sen (Later Noble Laureate) played a vital role in arranging a meeting between Tajuddin Ahmad and Indira Gandhi. By this time Tajuddin Ahmad had rightly planned to form a legitimate government with the support of the parliament members elected in the election of 1970.

Tajuddin Ahmad had a meeting with Indira Gandhi in which he explained to her the recent developments inside Bangladesh. The meeting was a turning point in the Liberation War of Bangladesh. Indira Gandhi gave a green signal to Tajuddin to carry on their movement to liberate their occupied country and if needed they could use the Indian territory.

Tajuddin had the legal mandate to form a legitimate government with people’s representatives. On 10 April 1971 with the support of the available MNA’s and MPA’s the first government of Bangladesh, popularly known as the Mujibnagar government was formed in Siliguri with Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as the President  and Tajuddin Ahmad as the Prime Minister.

It was decided that Syed Nazrul Islam would be the acting President in the absence of the President. The six member cabinet took oath of office on 17 April in Kushtia’s Meherpur. A 'Declaration of Independence' was read out. Now Bangladesh had a legitimate government of the people who could deal with the international community.

By the second week of April thousands of refugees began their arduous journey to India. It was another tragedy unfolding. By August refugee camps in West Bengal, Tripura and Assam were flooded with more than ten million people from Bangladesh. The sacrifices made by the people of these neighbouring states of India were overwhelming. Indira Gandhi came to visit the refugee camps, heard about their suffering and promised her full support to make their stay as safe and comfortable. The only country at that time which stood beside India with material and moral support was former Soviet Union.

None of the Arab countries even recognised that there a human catastrophe was going on in this part of the world. The only exception was Iraq. Some Arab countries even accused India that it was trying to break a Muslim country. USA and China gave all the material support to Pakistan to commit its act of genocide inside Bangladesh. But the people of US and most European countries stood beside Bangladesh.

Indira Gandhi realised the importance of internationalising the Bangladesh tragedy.

On 24 October 1971 she set on a 19 day tour of the western countries to apprise them of the situation in her eastern front. During this 19 day tour she travelled to about a dozen capitals in Europe, met Presidents and Prime Ministers. Everyone gave her a patient hearing but virtually promised nothing.

During her visit to the White House Nixon’s Foreign Secretary Henry Kissinger decided not be at the meeting. Nixon brushed aside that any atrocities were being committed in Bangladesh and termed it as a civil war and internal matter of Pakistan. Indira Gandhi was able to identify who were her friends at this hour of crisis.

A disappointed Indira Gandhi returned to India. She was convinced that the Bangladesh crisis needs to be handled by her alone. The only solution perceived is to see Bangladesh an independent country. By this time the vast areas of Bangladesh came under the control of Mukti Bahini. On 3 December Pakistan Air Force made a pre-emptive strike at India’s forward bases.

Indira rushed to Delhi. Immediately she called meetings of both Houses of the Indian parliament and informed the members about developments and announced that from then on India was at war with Pakistan. Three days later the world heard Indira Gandhi announcing India’s recognition of independent Bangladesh.

Deep respect to Indira Gandhi!

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The writer is an analyst and a commentator