Explaining 1971

Explaining 1971

Context

India’s intervention was altruistic only in small part but was primarily based on realpolitik (a system of politics or principles based on practical rather than moral or ideological considerations.).

Why India’s liberation of Bangladesh was a practical move?

• Eliminating a two-way front: The Bengali uprising provided India with the “opportunity of the century”, to break up Pakistan and thus eliminate the threat of a two-front war in any future confrontation.
• Threat level reduced: Indian decision-makers concluded that even if the new country in the east would not be an “eternal ally”, it could never pose the kind of threat that ‘East Pakistan’ posed to Indian security
• Holding grudge:New Delhi concluded that if Bangladesh became independent without Indian help, it would bear a serious grudge against the latter.
  • India had strongly encouraged the Bengali movement for autonomy through its propaganda and clandestine financial support.
  • To allow the Pakistani military to decimate the Bengali elite would have been viewed as a serious breach of trust by the Awami League leadership, potentially turning it into India’s bitter enemy.
• Threat of radicalisation:New Delhi recognised that a drawn-out civil war would radicalise the Bengali population.
  • This could lead to the side-lining of the pro-India Awami League and shift the leadership of the movement to left-wing pro-China parties such as the Bhashani-led National Awami Party and the Communist Party.
• Aid to Naxalites:Guerrilla warfare would then become a likely prospect
  • A Maoist-inspired guerrilla movement in East Pakistan would have provided the Naxalites with aid and destabilised West Bengal and the surrounding region.