Sam Manekhaw's Fine Line

As refugees streamed from East Pakistan into West Bengal, Assam and Tripura. Manekshaw said he was summoned by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to a cabinet meeting in April 1971.

“She then turned around to me and said, ‘What are you doing about it?’ And I said, ‘Nothing, it’s got nothing to do with me. You didn’t consult me when you allowed the BSF, the CRP and RAW to encourage the Pakistanis to revolt. Now that you are in trouble, you come to me. I have a long nose. I know what’s happening.’

She said, ‘I want you to enter Pakistan. And I responded, That means war!’

She said, ‘I do not mind if it is war.’

I said ‘Are you prepared? I am certainly not. This is the end of April. The Himalayan passes are opening and there can be an attack from China.’

I turned around to the Prime Minister and said that the rains were about to start in East Pakistan and when it rains there, it pours and the whole countryside is flooded. The snows are melting, the rivers would become like oceans. All my movement would be confined to roads.”

After the cabinet meeting ended, Manekshaw recalled: “I turned around and said, ‘Prime Minister, before you open your mouth, may I send you my resignation on grounds of health, mental or physical?’

She said, ‘Everything you told me is true.’

‘Yes! It is my job to tell you the truth,’ I responded. ‘And it is my job to fight, it is my job to fight to win and I have to tell you the truth.’
She smiled at me and said, ‘All right Sam, you know what I want?’ I said, ‘Yes, I know what you want!'”

Gandhi heeded Manekshaw’s advice and waited until November to launch the Bangladesh war.