Joy Bangla!
The situation there was all very happy. As the troops were advancing towards the newly liberated capital, people standing along the road cheered them, chanting "joy bangla". They thanked the troops and other freedom fighters.
Retired Brigadier Rajendra Nath Misra, now 92, was the commander of the Ninth Battalion of the Indian Army in 1971. He was describing the situation on December 16, 1971 as his troops were advancing towards Dhaka after crossing the Shitalakhya river.
Though he met somebody from Bangladesh after many years, he had no problem to remember the events 45 years back. It seemed he had told this story hundreds of times.
The elderly warrior now lives in Lucknow, India.
The retired officer has not yet retired from social works. He volunteers at a girl's college at Lucknow.
The memory of the day was fresh in his mind from that winter afternoon in 1971.
"How can I forget! Yes, I remember, I reached Dhaka in the afternoon of December 16, 1971," he said.
His troop reached the other side of the lakhya river (Shitalkhya) on December 10.
"But we crossed the Lakhya (Shitalakhya) river and reached Dhaka at around 3:00 PM on December 16," he said.
"When the troop reached Dhaka, I was told that the surrender will take place at 4 o'clock. I started working to protect the area. General Niazi and his party came around 4 o'clock," he said.
Misra said they started their journey from Agartala.
“On November 29 we moved out from Agartala, Tripura. My corp commander Sougat Singh was very keen that we should cross the Meghna River as early as possible. And after that we fought several battles,” he said.
"We had captured Akhaura on December 2," he said.
During that time the Pakistani army was retreating and destroying various equipment they had, he said.
"From there, the movement was straight for Brahmanbaria so that we could capture the bridge over the Meghna," he said.
Reaching the Meghna on December 4, they found the Pakistani army had demolished the bridge and was in a defensive position on the other side of the river.
"The local people were very cooperative. They wanted to help us cross the river by country boat. But we did not want to use boats as the Pakistani army had taken position on the other side of the river. So I requested my commander to arrange helicopters for us," he said.
On December 7, the Ninth Battalion crossed the river by helicopter early in the morning.
"I had the Ninth Battalions with me. I also had the Third Battalion but I left them behind," he said.
"The battalion was asked to stop the train movement from Dhaka and towards Dhaka. The train movement was stopped on December 8 and December 9. They were not allowed to move out from there."
And then, on December 8, the Third Battalion also crossed the Meghna under the cover of darkness.
"On December 9, we were ready to move towards Dhaka. After arrival of the Third Battalion, I wanted my men to move as fast as possible.”
The local people helped the army. They brought in enough rickshaws for the Battalions to move. And there were no enemy troops in about 30 km area. On December 10, the troop reached the Lakhya river.
"We were told that the US Seventh Fleet had started from the Philippines for the Bay of Bengal," he said.
Meanwhile, the Indian air force made sure the sky was protected against the Pakistan air force.
And on the 11th we prepared to cross the river. But I was told that negotiations were going on and General Niazi may agree to surrender.
“So we were waiting on the other side of the river for orders. We were expecting a message,” he said.
On 16th morning Niazi had decided to surrender.
"So on the 16th we crossed the river." They rode abandoned vehicles and tanks of the Pakistani army to reach the capital.
When asked whether he was present at the Racecourse ground when the Pakistani army surrendered, Misra excitedly said, "Of course! I had one battalion out there. After that Niazi and his party of three arrived. I was busy making sure the whole thing went without a hitch. I had to make arrangements for security of that party.”
He was in Dhaka till March 1972 before returning to India.
“When I left, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had taken power. His government had been formed,” he said.
Regarding the killing of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Misra said it was a very sad incident.
“He was the person who had been the supreme leader behind the Liberation War of 1971,” he said.
When asked if he had ever visited Bangladesh later, the Misra said he never visited Bangladesh again as he took an early retirement in 1973.
“My father was also in the army. I did not get much chance to spend time with him. And he wrote to me saying that he was not well. So I resigned and moved to Lucknow to stay with him.”
Misra said though he had fought in the Liberation War of Bangladesh many years ago, he was still interested in Bangladesh.
“I think Sheikh Hasina has been doing very well. The relationship with India has improved a lot,” he said.
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