India’s Modi Extends Formal Greetings to Bangladesh on Its Victory Day
The conflict erupted when authorities in what was then West Pakistan launched a violent crackdown on demonstrators in East Pakistan demanding democratic rights. Local resistance fighters responded with an armed struggle, receiving decisive military support from India. That intervention proved pivotal in the defeat of Pakistani forces and the creation of Bangladesh as an independent state.
Commemorating India’s role in the war, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on X: “On Vijay Diwas [Victory Day], we remember the brave soldiers whose courage and sacrifice ensured India had a historic victory in 1971,” he said. “Their steadfast resolve and selfless service protected our nation and etched a moment of pride in our history.”
India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar also marked the occasion, reaching out to Bangladesh’s Foreign Affairs Adviser Mohammad Touhid Hossain to convey New Delhi’s best wishes.
Once-close relations between the two neighbors have deteriorated sharply since the removal of former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League government following a popular uprising last year.
New Delhi has dismissed allegations from Dhaka that Indian territory is being used for actions harmful to Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, numerous former Awami League ministers, lawmakers, and veterans of the 1971 Liberation War—long honored for their roles in Bangladesh’s independence—are currently imprisoned. Authorities accuse them of crimes connected to the July–August 2024 unrest.
Hasina and former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal have both been sentenced to death in absentia by a Bangladeshi court for allegedly ordering a violent crackdown on student-led protests in 2024.
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