Liberation Of Bangladesh: How The First Woman Prime Minister Of India Pulled Off India’s Victory Against Pakistan
Indira Gandhi, the first woman prime minister of India, served as the country’s fourth and final Prime Minister. Gandhi, who was the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first and longest-serving Prime Minister, served as India’s Prime Minister for four terms, a period of time totaling 5,829 days, making her the second-longest serving Prime Minister in the history of the position.
Liberation of Bangladesh
The Indo-Pakistani conflict that occurred prior to Bangladesh’s independence in 1971, India’s support of the “Mukti Vahini” in Bangladesh, and the diplomacy that ensued are the narrative of Indira Gandhi’s leadership. India’s triumph in the war of 1971 was not limited to a victory on the battlefield; rather, it was a significant achievement for India on the political and diplomatic fronts as well. The newly formed India, which was only 24 years old at the time, had shocked Pakistan’s two most powerful friends: the United States and China.
During the year 1971, India and Pakistan were involved in a conflict that lasted for a total of 13 days. Throughout the conflict between India and Pakistan, the first female prime minister of India, Indira Gandhi, never wavered in her unwavering support for Bangladesh.
During the buildup to and the duration of the war in 1971, Indira Gandhi ensured that the conflict did not drag on for an excessive amount of time by delegating these sufficient authority to the chiefs of her defense forces.
Role of Indira Gandhi- The First Woman Prime Minister of India
On December 3, a pre-emptive strike was conducted against several airbases belonging to the Indian government. At the time, Indira Gandhi was in Calcutta, but she immediately made her way to Delhi in order to deliver a speech to the entire nation. She remarked that “War is something that has been thrust upon us.”
India retaliated with an offensive, and the conflict eventually resulted in the partition of Pakistan into two halves: one containing East Pakistan and the other containing West Pakistan. This partition led to the establishment of Bangladesh. Gandhi declared an end to hostilities after India’s success and the subsequent victory.
It’s possible that today’s so-called “superpowers” will make a diplomatic gaffe over it, especially when one considers the number of first-world countries who have invaded not only other nations but also stayed in power after doing so. The first woman prime minister of India, on the other hand, maintained the demeanor of a real winner. She was aware that she had accomplished something truly remarkable, but she chose to play down her accomplishments by not diminishing the contributions of others around her. In addition, it stood in opposition to the opinions of some who argued that the 93,000 Pakistani prisoners of war could have been leveraged in order to find a solution to the unresolved Kashmir dispute with Pakistan.
Conclusion
Throughout the whole course of the fight for Bangladesh’s independence, there was never a single second of hesitation or uncertainty that the Pakistani military would not be vanquished and that Bangladesh wouldn’t be set free. If India and Indira Gandhi had permitted Bangladesh’s glorious war of liberation to operate its natural course and therefore not intervened militarily, the people of Bangladesh would have continued to suffer under Pakistan’s occupation for a longer period of time; however, the country would have accomplished its independence united as a monolith without even being tied in undying gratitude to India and, in retrospect, without planting a large number of seeds of disunity that the nation is currently facing.
