Since the killing of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman there has been a question which has haunted me for a long time: who was the mastermind of his tragic death? I have been analyzing this for years. After reflecting on the then politico-socio-economic scenarios, the Indo-Bangladesh relationship and above all, India’s longstanding agenda centering on the Muslim homeland Pakistan and its dream for Akhand Bharat, I came to a conclusion. India’s late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi must have been the hidden, core, mastermind of killing Mujib, a trusted ally of India. Indira Gandhi, through RAW, must have prepared the ground to isolate Mujib from people. RAW created an anarchic situation in Bangladesh, which ultimately paved the way for his gruesome murder on the night of August 15, 1975.
Mujib was used
Historically Mujib was not in the books of India, as he was an activist of forming a Muslim Homeland in the subcontinent, a homeland named Pakistan. Though Mujib broke Pakistan, many Indian analysts had suspicious views about him, arguing that he did not shun his spirit of Muslim nationalism.
An impassionate analysis shows India factually used Sheikh Mujib to divide and weaken Muslim power of the subcontinent and instantly to merge East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) with India and subsequently West Pakistan (now Pakistan) also.
Mujib: A threat to India
Indira Gandhi felt perturbed when Mujib came back alive to lead the new country — Bangladesh. She was sure Pakistan would never keep him alive for his treacherous anti-Pakistan role. But the reality was entirely the reverse of her assumptions.
Mujib’s arrival in Bangladesh upset India’s entire blueprint of instantly grabbing Bangladesh. Indira found Mujib’s sky-high popularity among his people, a worldwide acceptability and an obstinate personality. This scared her. She considered Mujib an imminent danger to India’s interests and its territorial integrity.
Besides, Mujib discarded the agreement India signed with the exiled- government led by Tajuddin Ahmad during the Liberation War. It was really a subservient agreement having 7-points, which was a weapon to reduce Bangladesh to a satellite state of India. According to this treaty, the Indian army would stay in Bangladesh for an unlimited period, Bangladesh would not have professional armed forces and India would deter external threats (if any) directed against Bangladesh and its foreign policy would be reciprocal and complementary to that of India, etc.
Mujib never recognized or implemented any conditions of this most detrimental treaty. As a symbol of a sovereign country, he formed three branches of the Bangladesh Armed Forces. Without consulting India he welcomed the Pakistan Prime Minister, M Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was awarded a rousing reception in Dhaka. Mujib went to Lahore to attend the summit of the OIC in 1974. This made India most furious.
In the same year (May, 1974), Mujib visited India on a state visit. During that visit, an MoU was signed between the two countries, after which there was an internal briefing at the official residence of V.V. Giri, the then Indian President.
Recalling the scenario of that briefing, the then Acting Water Resources Secretary, Asafuddowla said at a seminar held at National Press Club of Dhaka said that in the presence of Indira Gandhi and the Indian Foreign Minister Swaran Singh said to Sheikh Mujib, “Mr. Prime Minister, we had an understanding that we would cooperate and coordinate with each other on our foreign matters. But when you go to Pakistan, you neither cooperate nor coordinate with us. As a result, Indian people would have misunderstood…” Asafuddowla stated that before Swaran Singh could finish his question, Bangabandhu thumbed on the table so hard that the coffee cup overflowed the table roaring, “ Mr. Charon Singh, don’t teach me subcontinental politics. I know the difference between subordination and coordination. I am the Prime Minister of a sovereign country which is the second largest Muslim country. I can go anywhere in the world whether it is Lahore or Islamabad. I don’t require anybody’s permission to go anywhere.”
Mujib’s curt reply scared and annoyed Indira. Analyzing Mujib’s records since the Pakistan movement to 1974, she, enjoying the support of the Soviet Union, undertook the drastic decision of having him assassinated. A former KGB operative named Yuri Alexandrovich Bezmeno confessed in an interview that the Soviet Union was actively behind Indira.
Symptoms of India’s involvement in the killing of Mujib
In most cases, the main perpetrators of such gruesome killings remain anonymous. But in the case of Mujib, the main culprit failed to keep herself hidden. Prevailing situations and her activities brought her to the limelight.
Just after the killing of Mujib, India instantly welcomed and recognized the new government of Khondaker Moshtaq Ahmad. The then Indira Gandhi government did not send any condolence message to the bereaved family of Sheikh Mujib, nor mourned his death, nor hoist a black flag anywhere in India.
India did not even honor the internationally established diplomatic norm of sending a condolence message to the government of Bangladesh. It also did not issue any statement to the press condemning or condoning the tragic killing of the Mujib family.
Such strange behavior from India (a trusted friend of Bangladesh), regarding the killing of Mujib justifies its involvement. Indira’s further action uncovers her real face. Annada Shankar Roy, an eminent litterateur of West Bengal of India, was not allowed to publish a poem in the ‘Desh’ (weekly Bengali magazine) mourning the assassination Mujib. Being unable to print it he sought the help of the then Chief Minister of West Bengal Siddhartha Shankar Ray. The Chief Minister sent it to Indira Gandhi along with an English translation. Indira’s reply was, “India will not disturb the Moshtaq government in any way.”
Such a reply indicates Indira’s involvement in the killing of Mujib. The reply aggrieved and shocked Annada Shankar Roy, who later exposed Indira’s ominous face saying:
“India wanted to show that it is entirely neutral in the internal affairs of Bangladesh. The national flag (of India) was not kept at half-mast after the brutal murder of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, with whom Mrs. Indira Gandhi had a deep friendship. National Mourning Day or Week was not observed (in India). Mrs. Gandhi neither opened her tongue for three days to express her grief (at the murder of Mujib) nor allowed others to mourn” (Mujib’s death).
Accusing Indira Annada wrote, “(She) imposed strict censorship on the press to deter the people’s reaction at the killing of Mujib. Though mourning was allowed, condemnation remained prohibited. We the writers were not dumb, rather we were kept speechless.”
India sheltered the killers
The very shelter provided in India to at least two of the killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib unequivocally proved that India was directly involved in killing him. On April 12, 2020 the BBC declared that Abdul Majed, one of the assassins, continued to live in Bangladesh after the killing of Mujib. However, it is believed he fled to India in 1996 when Sheikh Hasina was elected Prime Minister. The question naturally surfaces about how Majed could sneak into India and stay there for 22 years, till he was seen walking on the streets of Mirpur, Dhaka and arrested therein.
The New Indian Express of April 8, 2020 further added, “.. .. .. he had obtained documents to prove himself as an Indian citizen and got a passport” of India.
The Indian media outlet Northeast India Now of April 20, 2020 quoting Indian law enforcing agencies claimed that they nabbed Risaldar Mosleuddin from a bordering town Bongaon adjacent to Bangladesh and later handed him over to Bangladesh. He apparently ran a medical shop in India. How was it possible without the clandestine support of the Indian government? Indian officials declared these two fugitives as India’s “gifts of Mujib Borsho” (gift of the Mujib year).
How can India compensate for the murder of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman? Can India avoid or bury its responsibility of killing Bangabandhu? Above all, how can the current followers of Mujib claim India to be a friend of blood or a friend in need?
I want to invite India to discard my narratives, or prove my arguments as baseless and to inform the world as to the real ones.
* The writer is a Bangladesh-American journalist and researcher.
August 21, 2021
The viewpoints expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect the opinions, viewpoints and editorial policies of Aequitas Review.
