Indian army won 1971 war on the battlefield, Indira lost it at the table: BJP

The BJP claimed that while the Indian armed forces won the war on the battlefield, Indira Gandhi lost it at the negotiating table.

Addressing the media at the BJP headquarters in Bengaluru on Thursday, BJP National General Secretary and Karnataka In-Charge, Rajya Sabha Member, Radha Mohan Das Agarwal said: "In 1971, two wars were fought. One on December 3, 1971, by the Indian Army, and another on July 2, 1972, at Shimla, where a political negotiation took place between then Prime Minister late Indira Gandhi and Pakistan's then Prime Minister late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, in which Indira Gandhi completely failed to secure anything in India's favour."

Agarwal further remarked: "If not for Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, we would have lost the 1971 war. Indira Gandhi wanted to go to war earlier, but General Manekshaw told her that if India entered the war prematurely, it would face a humiliating defeat. He made it clear that the war should be fought on the Army's terms and even threatened to resign."

Indira Gandhi was eventually compelled to heed Manekshaw's advice, and the war was fought according to his strategy.

"While the Indian Army secured a decisive victory on the battlefield, Indira Gandhi squandered the gains at the negotiation table. The Army won, but she was defeated. The 93,000 surrendered Pakistani soldiers were treated like sons-in-law in India for five months, while our economy suffered. We gained nothing from Pakistan."

India had captured over 15,000 square kilometres of land in West Pakistan, which was later returned.

"Around five crore Bangladeshi migrants, who remain a challenge for us today, particularly in West Bengal, were not repatriated. We returned 93,000 Pakistani prisoners of war, but failed to bring back our 56 soldiers captured by Pakistan. Whatever the Army achieved in 1971, Indira Gandhi lost in the following year," he claimed.

When asked about Madhya Pradesh Minister Vijay Shah's controversial statement on Colonel Sophia Qureshi, Agarwal said that the BJP does not take suggestions from anti-national parties, adding that if resignations are demanded over every statement, then, apart from senior Congress leaders Shashi Tharoor and P. Chidambaram, no one would be spared.

"We would first have to ask Rahul Gandhi to resign. Regarding Vijay Shah's remarks, he has already apologised twice, and the party has not yet pardoned him. You wait and see."

He added that he is pained that Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah keeps making statements against Hindus and the nation, and is also framing policies accordingly.

"I am, however, pleased that Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar does not appear to support such views and seems to stand with the Indian armed forces," he said.