Did Indira Gandhi Make A Mistake By Forcing A Bangladesh On East Pakistan? Old Debate Returns On Social Media

Indira Gandhi played a crucial role in Bangladesh's liberation in 1971 by training and supplying the Mukti Bahini. Her efforts are now being question by a section of social media users.

Bangladesh Crisis: As Bangladesh took steps to emerge from one of the worst constitutional crises in history (Bangladesh has had quite a few), social media is abuzz with debates on Indira Gandhi's role in the creation of the neighbouring nation. Bangladesh was 'liberated' in 1971 by the efforts of the 'Mukti Bahini' and leaders like Sheikh Mujibur Mujibur Rahman (Sheikh Hasina's father), Ziaur Rahman, Khaled Mosharraf, Syed Shahabuddin, and K M Shafiullah. 

Indira Gandhi provided major momentum to the freedom fighters of Bangladesh by facilitating the training of the Mukti Bahini fighters in India and supplying them with weapons.

Listen the radio broadcast of Indira Gandhi's announcement of the war with Pakistan on December 3, 1971 below:

Indira Gandhi allowed the provisional government of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and provided economic, diplomatic, and military support to the Mukti Bahini in favour of a separate Bengali-speaking Bangladesh. She even allowed the provisional government to set up an office in Calcutta (now Kolkata).

Indira Gandhi corresponded with world leaders before the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war to garner support for a separate nation of Bangladesh, free from Pakistan's clutches. She was patient and calculated every strategy before the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war. Eventually, on December 16, 1971, the Pakistan forces surrendered before the Indian Army, which led to the creation of Bangladesh. The war that started on December 3 ended in just two weeks.

However, Indira Gandhi's strategy, though hailed by millions for decades, is being questioned in the wake of the latest spate of violence in Bangladesh. While some are supporting her, others have claimed that the creation of Bangladesh led to a hatred towards Hindus.

"Indira Gandhi caused irrevocable harm to India, especially Hindus of the sub-continent, by acting as the midwife for the birth of a new monster called Bangladesh," wrote one social media user. She claimed that Bangladesh being a Muslim majority state, Bengali Muslims continued to nurture "deep hatred against Hindus who remained there after the Partition of 1947". 

Another social media user countered this, saying had Indira Gandhi not intervened and defeated Pakistan, Hindus in East Pakistan would have been butchered in greater numbers.

The allegation of Indira Gandhi siding with Muslims to allow atrocities on Hindus is an old one.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor in a 1997 article on his website sought to dispel the notion that PM Indira Gandhi was against any religion or harboured any hatred towards any community. "During the war with Pakistan in 1971, the Indian Air Force in the northern sector was commanded by a Muslim; the Army Commander was a Parsi, the General Officer commanding the forces that marched into Bangladesh was a Sikh, and the General flown in to negotiate the surrender of the Pakistani forces in East Bengal was Jewish," he wrote in the article.

Indira Gandhi trusted diplomat Shashanka Shekhar Banerjee to accompany Sheikh Mujibur Rahman during his visit to London before he went to Dhaka.

Another claim is that Indira Gandhi allowed "millions of illegal refugees but could not negotiate India's share in the victory". This claim is coupled with a misleading claim that Indira Gandhi sent back Hindu refugees to Pakistan.

Indira Gandhi in a 1971 interview with BBC specifically said: "I am absolutely determined that all refugees of all religions must go back. We are not going to absorb them in our population." This interview was shot before the India-Pakistan war of 1971, when India was still looking for avenues to bring Pakistan to the table for negotiations.

During a media interaction on May 18, 1971, Indira Gandhi said that she wouldn't be able to fix a timeframe for the return of the refugees to Bangladesh.

After the war, when Indira Gandhi was asked about the mass exodus of refugees to India, she replied: "The massacre there stopped; the rapes stopped; the burning of villages stopped." In that interview, she was asked if she would stop supporting the Mukti Bahini. A visibly irate Indira Gandhi countered, asking if the genocide and rapes in West Pakistan should be allowed to continue.

While India's decision to support Bangladesh in 1971 — an era without mobile phones, telephones, and the internet — can be debated, a look at the prevailing conditions could give a clue to what may have forced Indira Gandhi to take such a decision. India was already dealing with the threat of being wedged in by Pakistan from two sides. To top that, the Chinese threat was looming large as it had not been even a decade since the 1962 Sino-Indian war. It is often argued that this may have been the best option at the time to negate the Pakistan threat along the eastern borders.