Bangladesh Law Advisor criticises tweet by PM Modi on Vijay Diwas, completely sidelines India role in 1971 war

Dhaka, Dec 17 (Representative) Bangladesh’s Law Advisor Asif Nazrul has protested against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s post on X commemorating Vijay Diwas, also known as Victory Day in Bangladesh, where he honoured the sacrifice of Indian soldiers in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. Nazrul called it solely “Bangladesh’s victory” and termed India as “only an ally, nothing more”.PM Modi in his celebratory post wrote: “Today, on Vijay Diwas, we pay heartfelt tributes to all the brave heroes who dutifully served India in 1971, ensuring a decisive victory. Their valour and dedication remain a source of immense pride for the nation. Their sacrifices and unwavering spirit will forever be etched in the people’s hearts and our nation’s history. India salutes their courage and remembers their indomitable spirit.”Nazrul, taking to Facebook wrote: “I strongly protest. December 16, 1971, was Bangladesh’s Victory Day. India was only an ally in this victory, nothing more that.”This was also supported by the convenor of the country’s leading ‘student’ body, the Anti-Discrimination-Student-Movement, Hasnat Abdullah, who fully disparaged PM Modi’s statement on Facebook.In a hostile criticism of PM Modi’s tweet, he wrote: “This was Bangladesh’s Liberation War. It was for Bangladesh’s independence against Pakistan. But Modi has claimed it was solely India’s war and their achievement, disregarding Bangladesh’s existence in their narrative.”When India claims this independence as their achievement, I see it as a direct threat to Bangladesh’s independence, sovereignty, and integrity.”Our struggle against this threat from India is inevitable. We must continue this struggle.

“Vijay Diwas marks the victory of India over Pakistan in the 1971 war. The war led to the creation of Bangladesh as an independent nation. Over 93,000 Pakistani troops surrendered to India on this day.It was one of the shortest and most decisive wars in modern history. Vijay Diwas honours the sacrifices of the Indian Armed Forces.PM Modi’s post received a lot of harsh backlash by a significant number of Bangladeshi netizens, most of whom have entirely downplayed if not completely refused India’s role in the war.This saw a heated social media battle between Indian and Bangladeshi netizens, with the Indian side calling out the latter over its massive distortion of historical truths.PM Modi’s post also saw support by Bangladeshi liberals, who criticised both the attempted subversion of history by Islamists as well as Yunus government’s mismanagement in controlling the distortion of history.Under Chief Advisor Mohammed Yunus’ army-backed interim government, relations between the two countries have greatly soured with Islamists and radicals distorting historical truths of 1971 which includes, subverting the role of the Indian leadership and the Indian Army in the creation of Bangladesh, and even vandalising the statues of the country’s founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and outright disassociating the nation from his contribution, while also treating India with great hostility.