Dusk was setting in along India’s extensive western border with Pakistan -- from the picturesque foothills of the Himalayas to the arid deserts of Rajasthan. It was Friday, December 3, 1971. Suddenly, a wave of enemy fighter jets appeared menacingly against the backdrop of a fading horizon. Operation Chengiz Khan, the code name for the Pakistan Air Force’s preemptive air strike against India was in motion; a game plan that hoped to replicate the devastation of the Egyptian Air Force by Israel during the Six-Day war of 1967. It would be a fitting response to India for its support for the Bangladeshi freedom movement.
In a brief span of 30 minutes between 17.30 and 18.00 hours, the PAF struck IAF airfields at Pathankot, Amritsar, Srinagar, Awantipur and Faridkot. Almost simultaneously, the Pakistan artillery launched a ground offensive crossing the border at Poonch in Jammu. The audacious air assault persisted well into the night with PAF planes penetrating deep into Indian territory and pounding airfields at Ambala and Agra; in all 11 airfields were targeted.
It was an open declaration of war. As air raid sirens sounded across the country and darkness descended, there was a palpable sense of apprehension, uncertainty and even fear. Had the PAF succeeded in its mission like the Israeli Air Force? Had our planes proved to be sitting ducks? Why had we not responded? Minutes seemed like hours -- a nervous people awaited with bated breaths to hear from their government.
Soon reassuring news filtered in: damage had been minimal and the IAF had responded in kind, bombing several Pakistani airbases and inflicting heavy damage.
Around midnight the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi came on the air. In a calm and measured tone she told the people: “I speak to you at a moment of great peril to our country and our people. Some hours ago, soon after 5.30 pm, Pakistan had launched a full scale war against us... Today a war in Bangladesh has become a war on India... Aggression must be met and the people of India will meet it with fortitude, determination, discipline and utmost unity."
The people of India did precisely that with the prime minister, herself leading the way. Indira Gandhi demonstrated superlative courage, steely determination and astute captaincy as she steered the nation through what was unequivocally independent India’s most challenging crisis.
On the military front, our armed forces proved to be a vastly superior: within 48 hours the IAF had achieved total air supremacy in the east and within a week our artillery was knocking on the doors of Dhaka. The diplomatic front proved to be more trying. With the surrender of the Pakistan army imminent, US President Richard Nixon ordered the US Seventh Fleet to move into the Bay of Bengal; the intention being to force India to the negotiating table before a formal surrender.
Indira Gandhi knew that a compromise at this stage would be a total negation of our principles and what our armed forces had accomplished. She stood her ground against the most powerful nation in the world and won. With the Seventh Fleet on its way towards the Indian Ocean, Indira Gandhi addressed a public rally in Delhi.
Pupul Jayakar in her book Indira Gandhi, A Biography (Viking, 1992)writes: “I have rarely heard her speak with such passionate intensity. Her voice rose to a crescendo as she turned to the people: “We will not retreat. Not by a single step will we move back.”
At 4.30 pm on December 16, 1971, Pakistani Gen A A K Niazi surrendered to Lt Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora. The Seventh Fleet was yet to enter Indian waters.
It was a decisive victory, undoubtedly India’s finest hour post-independence; a defining moment in the history of our nation which restored lost confidence and lifted our sagging morale that lay in a heap post the debacle of 1962 against China. We were no longer a nation that mouthed inanities without the capacity to fructify its convictions. We had stood up for a cause-the freedom of Bangladeshis, endured extreme hardship by accommodating 10 million refugees and eventually liberated a people by a tactical military strategy backed by a resolute political leadership. We could be proud of ourselves -- all made possible by the valiant leadership of Indira Gandhi. She deserves a bouquet of everlasting roses.
Ironically, the individual who catapulted us to the height of glory was also instrumental in sinking us to the depths of ignominy. On June 25, 1975, in response to a Allahabad high court verdict that nullified her election to the Lok Sabha, Indira Gandhi clamped a state of Emergency. Elections were suspended, civil rights curbed, the press censored and hundreds of political opponents were jailed. It was our darkest hour. With one stroke, Indira Gandhi had undone everything our nation stood for and attempted to strangle the very soul of our nation.
The imposition of Emergency was a blunder of gargantuan proportion that is unpardonable and must remain so. Nevertheless, this infraction despite its gravity cannot white out her outstanding leadership of the Bangladesh war. Life is not a zero sum game.
The Congress has been habitually parochial in its approach, denying political adversaries their due and even marginalising those Congressmen inimical to its first family. In sharp contrast, the Bharatiya Janata Party has always subscribed to an ideology that places the highest premium on service to the nation; it has cut across party lines to shower praise on the deserving.
By deeming October 31, Sardar Vallabhai Patel’s birthday as Rashtriya Ekta Diwas, the BJP has rightly made amends for the short shrift that the great leader received at the hands of the Congress. Restoring him to his place of honour was long overdue.
By the same token, the BJP cannot be seen as being petty towards a leader, who despite her flaws, did render yeoman service to the nation; someone described as a reincarnation of Durga by one of its tallest leaders.
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