‘Birth of Bangladesh most significant event of life’

Former Indian President Pranab Mukherjee has said in an interview published today that the birth of an independent Bangladesh remains the “most significant” event in his long public life.

Asked about any incident that stands out in his long political life, Mukherjee told The Times of India “To my mind it is Bangladesh, the birth of a nation of 12 or 13 crore people in 1971.”

Former President of India, Pranab Mukherjee on the cover of his new book,'The Coalition Years: 1996 to 2012'. Photo courtesy: Twitter@CitiznMukherjee

He said he still remembers that Indira Gandhi, the then prime minister, made a short statement in both houses of parliament saying "I am happy to inform the House that Pakistan army has surrendered to the joint command of the Indian army and the Bangladesh Mukti Bahini and now Dhaka is the free capital of free Bangladesh. That is the most significant event since I joined public life.”

Replying to a question if the birth of Bangladesh was a pronouncement on the two-nation theory, Mukherjee said “That will be an over-simplification of the whole issue because the two-nation theory was challenged at the very time of its pronouncement,” reports our New Delhi correspondent.

“It (the partition of Pakistan) once again established that mere religion cannot be the basis of a State. There are many other factors: religion, language, customs, culture and social systems.”

Asked if he thought that after the 1971 war win, India could have settled the Kashmir issue to its satisfaction, the former President said Indira Gandhi “took the wisest decision by declaring the unilateral ceasefire.”

“If India had not declared unilateral ceasefire, there would have been expansion of the conflict. It would have engulfed both India and Pakistan because America was bent on protecting the unity of western Pakistan after they had lost the hope on eastern Pakistan. Soviet Russia also did not want the war to be extended,” Mukherjee said.

Mukherjee, who was a senior Congress party leader and had occupied the post of President for five years since July 2012, is hitting the media headlines following the launch of his latest book “The Coalition Years” in India recently.

At the book launch function, Manmohan Singh, who was prime minister for two consecutive five-year terms since May, 2014, had said Mukherjee deserved to be the PM and the latter had reasons to be upset at not getting the post.

In his book, Mukherjee said he had, returning from a meeting with Congress President Sonia Gandhi, had a “vague” feeling that he would be made the prime minister.