Time to remember December 16, 1971: Congress MP Jairam Ramesh lauds Indira Gandhi

New Delhi [India], May 11 (ANI): Recalling the "historic event" of December 1971 when Pakistan surrendered before India, and Bangladesh was created, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh on Saturday said that even the presence of US Seventh Fleet in the Bay of Bengal did not "scare" then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
In a post on microblogging platform X, Ramesh wrote, "Now it's time to remember that historic event from the second week of December 1971, which is clearly recorded in official documents."
He added, "The Nixon-Kissinger duo sent a nuclear-powered and nuclear-armed U.S. Seventh Fleet naval task force to the Bay of Bengal, led by the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. But even this did not scare Indira Gandhi, and on December 16, 1971, Pakistan surrendered."
The 1971 Indo-Pakistani War, which resulted in the creation of Bangladesh, was a major event during Indira Gandhi's tenure as Prime Minister of India.
India provided crucial support to the independence movement in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), and the war began after Pakistan launched airstrikes on Indian airbases. Indira Gandhi's leadership was instrumental in India's victory and the birth of Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, posters featuring slogans like "Indira Hona Aasan Nahi" and "India Misses Indira" were displayed outside the Congress headquarters on Sunday.
The posters come as a reminder of Indira Gandhi's strong leadership during a transformative period in India's history.
It also comes at a time India has been facing escalating tensions with Pakistan after the Pahalgam attack on April 22 that claimed the lives of 26 people.
Earlier on Saturday, Congress leader KC Venugopal recalled the former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's leadership during the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War.
In a post on X, Venugopal posted old images of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, captioning, "Being a developing country, we have our backbone straight, enough will and resources to fight all atrocities. Times have passed when any nation sitting 3-4 thousand miles away could give orders to Indians. India terribly misses Indira Gandhi ji today!"
Congress leader Pawan Khera also posted images of former PM on X and captioned it, "India misses Indira."
Congress leader Ashok Gehlot also posted old images of the former PM on Facebook, captioning, "Indira Ji, today the whole country is remembering you..."
Hours after it agreed to stop all firing and military action on land, in the air and sea, following a call its DGMO made to his Indian counterpart, reports came of Pakistan violating the cessation of hostilities with India's air defence intercepting Pakistani drones amid a blackout in Srinagar.
Indian Armed Forces' launch of Operation Sindoor in the early hours of May 7, targeting nine terrorist infrastructure sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (Pok).
This operation was a retaliatory response to the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, which resulted in the deaths of 26 civilians, including one Nepali national. (ANI)