It was some time in early December 1971. I was nine years old at that time.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee, then a prominent leader of Jan Sangh, was in Ajmer on a
planned visit, to address a political rally. He had already built a reputation
for being a great orator. My parents, my younger brother (Varun) and I had gone
to Patel Ground in Ajmer to listen to him.
A couple of days before that, Pakistan had attacked India and a war had
broken out between the two countries. Vajpayee began his speech with words like
these:
आज हमारे देश पर संकट आया हुआ है। हमारे पड़ौसी देश पाकिस्तान ने भारत पर आक्रमण करने का दुस्साहस किया है। आज मैं आपके सामने विपक्ष के एक नेता की हैसियत से नहीं खड़ा हुआ हूं। आज भारत में कोई विपक्ष नहीं है। आज पूरा भारत एकमन, एकजुट है। युद्ध के इस समय में पूरे भारत का एक ही पक्ष है और उस पक्ष की, हम सब की, एक ही नेता हैं, इन्दिरा गांधी। और हम सब पूरी शक्ति के साथ, उनके नेतृत्व में हैं। भारत की रक्षा के लिए इन्दिरा गांधी यदि मुझे कुछ भी आदेश करेंगी तो मैं उसका पालन करूंगा।
A rough translation: "This is a moment of crisis for our country. Our
neighbouring country Pakistan has dared to attack India. I am not standing here
today as a leader of the opposition. There is no opposition in India at this
time. The whole country is united today. In this moment of war, there is unity
in India and the leader of all of us is Indira Gandhi. We are all under her
leadership with our full force. For the defense of India, if Indira Gandhi
gives me any order, I'll follow that."
These words, sincerely uttered, were met with a thunderous applause. I
don't have any recollection of the remaining half an hour of his speech, but
these initial sentences have left a lasting impression on my mind.
My father has, all his life, been a voracious reader of newspapers. Thanks
to his influence, Varun and I have been active followers of all kinds of news
from early childhood. Even though 43 years have passed since India's victory
over Pakistan on December 16, 1971, I still remember some aspects of that war
fairly clearly.
There were no televisions in Ajmer then. Radio news and newspapers were the
primary source of information. Cinema halls used to run News Reels before
playing a movie. And in the months leading to the war, the news reels,
inevitably, used to show snippets of the huge influx of refugees from Bangladesh
(then formally East Pakistan).
I remember the Government of India had imposed an additional levy of 5
paise stamp to be affixed to all postcards, inland letters and envelopes under
the "Refugee Relief Fund", to bear the financial burden of about 10
million refugees that had poured in from East Pakistan.
From around May 1971, I started reading the news articles about the freedom
struggle of Bangladesh with a keen interest. Maps appearing in newspapers
showing the areas of fight between Mukti Bahini and Pakistani army used to
fascinate me. I knew the names of more Bangladesh cities at that time than I do
now.
I remember the sense of shame and anger in the country when Indira Gandhi
was snubbed by Richard Nixon during her visit to USA. And the threat of USA to
send its naval fleet to the Bay of Bengal. And how Indira Gandhi appeared to
remain strong in the face of such threats. And our own INS Vikrant which was
adored by Indians. And the repeated vetoes by USSR in the United Nations, on
the US-sponsored resolutions asking India for a a ceasefire once the war broke
out.
I remember a special news bulletin on Akashvani (All India Radio) on the
evening of 3-December-1971, informing us that Pakistani airforce had attacked
various Indian cities that evening. Later, we heard the recorded speech of
Indira Gandhi in the Parliament announcing that India would retaliate firmly.
Every sentence uttered by Indira Gandhi was followed by loud applause of
support.
During the war, our family went to see a couple of movies in cinema halls,
primarily to see the news reels. One such movie that I clearly remember was
Guddi.
I used to be an avid listener of radio. Trying to catch radio stations of
foreign countries used to be my fascination. I managed to tune in to Pakistani
Radio and we used to listen to their news bulletin every day at 6:30 am. Those
news bulletins would report that one day Pakistani army had captured the city
of Jaisalmer, the next day Jodhpur, the next day some other city, and so on.
Indian radio stations were reporting the opposite of this, how Indian forces
were defeating Pakistani army and capturing their territory. Though initially
we did not believe Pakistani Radio stories, after a few days, we started
wondering if Indian news bulletins could be false. and the Pakistani news true.
But the doubts went away soon when, one fine morning, we heard Pakistani Radio
announcing that the city of Ajmer (where I used to live) had been captured by
the Pakistani army the previous day, and the Pakistani officers were offering
prayers in the Dargah.
After the Pakistani Radio news, we used to hear a special, 10-minute
program on Akashvani (Jaipur station) at 6:50 am called "Lade Soorma Aaj
Ji" (the warrior fights today). Some poet used to read inspiring poems of "Veer
Ras", as a way to keep the morale of the armed forces as well as civilians
high. I wish I could lay my hands on the recordings of those daily sessions.
When the news of India's victory came on 16-December-1971, there was
jubiliation all over the country. The newspaper headlines the next day were
ecstatic. I remember the headline in Hindi daily "Nyaya" as
"Bangladesh Azad" (Bangladesh is free), spread across the entire
width of the front page.
A few months after the war got over, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was freed from
jail by Pakistan, and he visited our country to acknowledge India's
contribution in their independence struggle. He also visited Ajmer, and
addressed a public rally in the same Patel Ground where Vajpayee had delivered
his memorable speech a few months ago. Again, my family was there to listen to
him. He was also warmly received by the people, like a popular Indian leader.
He spoke in Bengali, and somebody else used to translated his speech in Hindi.
