‘Ungrateful’ Bangladesh! Why did we create Bangladesh?

 “‘Ungrateful’ Bangladesh”! Why did we create Bangladesh?

By S.N. VERMA

More than five decades after the birth of Bangladesh, an uncomfortable question is increasingly being asked in India: has the nation we helped create forgotten the circumstances of its own liberation?

In 1971, India did not merely support Bangladesh diplomatically. It opened its borders to nearly ten million refugees, bore enormous economic and social costs, and ultimately went to war to end one of the worst humanitarian crises of the 20th century. Indian soldiers fought and died to liberate a people subjected to mass atrocities by the Pakistani Army. The surrender of over 90,000 Pakistani troops in Dhaka remains one of the most decisive moments in modern military history.

What is often forgotten—particularly by those who did not live through that era—is the extraordinary public contribution made by ordinary Indians. During the 1970s, citizens willingly paid additional amounts on daily necessities to support Bangladesh. Bus commuters paid extra fares; cinema-goers paid a surcharge on tickets; collections were organised across towns and villages under the Bangladesh Relief Fund. This was not state coercion—it was popular empathy. An entire generation contributed, modestly but consistently, to help a neighbour survive and rebuild.

Against this historical backdrop, recent developments in Bangladesh are deeply troubling.

There has been a visible rise in hostility towards India in public discourse, street protests, and symbolic acts that target India’s role in the Liberation War. Even more disturbing are reports of violence against minorities, particularly Hindus, and the apparent indifference—or worse, inadequacy—of state institutions in preventing such incidents. The killing of individuals like Dipu Chandra Das, widely reported in the media, has raised serious concerns about law enforcement, rule of law, and minority protection.

No democracy can claim moral legitimacy while failing to protect its vulnerable citizens.

Equally concerning is the attempt to rewrite or dilute the history of 1971, portraying India not as a liberator but as an adversary. This is not merely a diplomatic irritant; it is a profound betrayal of historical truth. Nations are free to chart independent foreign policies, but independence does not require amnesia.

India did not intervene in 1971 for territorial gain or political domination. It intervened because mass killings, sexual violence, and ethnic cleansing were unfolding on its doorstep—and because global powers chose silence. To now see sections of Bangladeshi society treat India as an enemy raises a legitimate question: what happened to gratitude, memory, and moral continuity?

This is not an indictment of every Bangladeshi citizen. It is a critique of prevailing political narratives, selective outrage, and a growing intolerance that threatens Bangladesh’s own founding ideals—secularism, pluralism, and respect for human dignity.

Bangladesh was once cited as a model of economic resilience and social progress in South Asia. That promise is now under strain. Political instability, suppression of dissent, attacks on minorities, and excessive external influence risk pushing the country down a path that its founders never intended.

History is unforgiving to nations that erase their own origins.

India will remain a responsible neighbour. But friendship cannot be sustained on denial and hostility. If Bangladesh continues to distance itself from the values and sacrifices that gave it birth, the question will only grow louder—not in anger, but in sorrow:

Why did we create Bangladesh, if its own conscience refuses to remember?