Addressing a Vijay Samman Rally in Dehradun to mark the anniversary, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi hailed the families of military personnel of poll-bound Uttarakhand for their heroics and martyrdom for the cause of defending India. He said it took just 13 days for India to make Pakistan bow its head in the 1971 war.
“In today’s function in Delhi to mark the liberation day of Bangladesh, not even the name of Indira Gandhi was taken. The name of Indira Gandhi, who took 32 bullets for this country, was not even mentioned in the invitation. It makes no difference to me. I know what she has done for this country; how she has shed her blood for this country,” Gandhi told the cheering crowd. He said the present government was “scared of the truth” and stressed that “my family and the people of Uttarakhand share a relation of sacrifices for the nation” and referred to how “my grandmother and my father were martyred for the country”.
“While many usually give the full credit for the 1971 war victory to the political leadership or to the India forces, the credit goes to people who stood united with India and against Pakistan irrespective of their religion and class. Lakhs of families donated gold to the government’s war efforts. It was a united India Vs a divided Pakistan,” Gandhi said even as he lamented how under the present ruling dispensation, “the country is being divided and weakened with brothers pitted against each other.”
In Delhi, the leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, wondered how the Modi government could have tried to ignore the role of Indira Gandhi in the official functions to mark liberation of Bangladesh. Like former defence minister AK Antony did on Wednesday, Kharge too on Thursday reminded the Modi government how then Bharatiya Jan Sangh leader Vajpayee hailed Indira Gandhi as ‘Durga’ for her leadership role in liberating Bangladesh.
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