In 1971, East Pakistan seceded from Pakistan to become Bangladesh. That is, of course, old history. So why discuss it now? Because it has once again assumed center stage, thanks to the Congress Party resurrecting the issue to show Prime Minister Narendra Modi a peg or two down. That operation Sindhoor launched on May 7 and paused at 5 PM on May 10 was a roaring success in terms of bringing Pakistan on to its knees and has rankled many, including Pakistan, China, Turkey, Azerbaijan and the Congress Party. Congress’ riposte has been to pitchfork Indira Gandhi’s arguable phenomenal achievement in helping East Pakistan secede with Indian military support. In its worldview, Modi’s taming of Pakistan pales before what Indira Gandhi did more than half a century ago.

The ostensible provocation for Indian interference in then East Pakistan was to help the cause of democracy whittled down by the Pakistani government by refusing to swear in Mujibur Rehman of the Awami League as the chief minister after its spectacular victory in the hustings. There is a counterview that this was the proverbial thin edge of the wedge to worm into the hearts of Bangladeshis and wean them away from West Pakistan.

The freedom India and Pakistan won from the British rule in 1947 resulted in what are called enclaves—parts of Pakistan jutting into India and vice versa on the west and parts of Bangladesh jutting into India and vice versa on the east. But taken as a whole, India being sandwiched between Pakistan and Bangladesh, thus separating the two parts of a nation by as much as 2020 km on average if we take the driving distance between Dhaka and Islamabad as a broad indicator, is the largest enclave ever in world history and geography. That Chennai is also separated from New Delhi........

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