Facts of 1971 War: Prez Nixon asked China to menace India

History says that during the cold war days, India’s relation with United States was not as good as it is now. The recently released official documents in US have disclosed some unrevealed secrets that are now in public. Earlier, it had revealed that how China ‘cheated’ India and forced India to a war in 1962.

Now, a recently-published book has revealed truth behind another war 1971 war. According to the book, the US President Richard M. Nixon was very much frustrated with Indian policy towards East Pakistan (Now Bangladesh) during the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war.

The documents reportedly exposed that the US President had secretly entreated China to menace India by moving Chinese troops to the Indian border.

A recently-published book ‘Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power’has thousands of pages of national security files and telephone transcripts of then US national security adviser Henry Kissinger and 2,800 hours of the Nixon tapes in it that has disclosed the US mentality towards India at that time.

American author and historian Robert Dallek has exposed in the book that how Nixon and Kissinger were disappointed with Indian policies and how they tried to bring China in order to prevent the formation of Bangladesh.

At that time, US President Nixon had called Indians as a slippery, treacherous people and Kissinger had called Indians as insufferably arrogant.

According to the book, then Indian PM Indira Gandhi had seen little prospect of any political settlement in this matter. However, she had told Kissinger that she did not want to use force and was open to suggestions.

Later, Kissinger warned India that a war would be a disaster for both countries and it would provoke any Chinese aggression against India.

Kissinger had also in mind that in case of China’s involvement in the matter on Pakistan’s behalf, it might prompt Moscow to teach China a lesson.

Now, everything has become history, but one thing is sure that Indira Gandhi, the then PM, had showed great courage in moving forward to establish Indian supremacy in the region despite of watching two great powers standing against India.