Dhaka, Dec 18: Two days after a member of Bangladesh’s interim government said India was “nothing more” than an ally in the country’s liberation, the Foreign Ministry on Wednesday made a similar point, citing a book by India’s former foreign secretary J N Dixit.
“We celebrate our glorious Victory in 1971; we celebrate the Truth,” the Foreign Ministry said in a post on Facebook.
India commemorates December 16 as Vijay Diwas when over 90,000 Pakistani soldiers surrendered before the Indian Army, leading to the creation of Bangladesh.
Bangladesh marks it as Victory Day or ‘Bijoy Dibosh.’ On Monday, interim government’s Law Adviser Asif Nazrul had criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s post on X commemorating Victory Day saying, “India was merely an ally in this victory, nothing more.” State-run news agency, Bangladesh Sangbad Sangtha (BSS), on Wednesday quoted the ministry’s post, titled ‘Facts in History’, that reiterated that “Bangladesh emerged as a sovereign, independent country on December 16, 1971, following a prolonged struggle and a nine-month-long brutal war.” BSS said the Facebook post by the Ministry quoted Dixit’s book Liberation and Beyond: Indo-Bangladesh Relations, which said “a major political mistake” was made at the surrender ceremony.
Dixit had suggested that General M A G Osmani, Commander from the Bangladesh side on the Joint Command, should have been at the ceremony and made a signatory.
The former India National Security Adviser claimed that Osmani’s helicopter did take off but did not reach Dhaka in time for the surrender schedule and added that his presence could have helped in avoiding many of the political misunderstandings between the India and Bangladesh relations in the initial days.
The Foreign Ministry’s post concluded, “We celebrate our glorious Victory in 1971; we celebrate the Truth.”
On Monday, Nazrul’s comment was reposted by the office of Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus.
Attaching a screenshot of Modi’s post that paid tribute to Indian soldiers for their role in the historic victory in 1971, Nazrul wrote on Facebook in Bengali on Monday, “I strongly protest. December 16, 1971, marks Bangladesh’s Victory Day. India was merely an ally in this victory, nothing more.”
Yunus’ Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam shared Nazrul’s post.
Anti-Discrimination Student Movement Convener Hasnat Abdullah also criticised Modi’s post. Abdullah wrote on Facebook that this was Bangladesh’s Liberation War and it was for the country’s independence against Pakistan. He said Modi has claimed it was solely India’s war and their achievement, disregarding Bangladesh’s existence in their narrative. (PTI)
