Modi’s Arrest in 1971: An Indian Perspective

It is characteristic of India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi that he managed to turn an occasion intended to celebrate the birth of Bangladesh into an episode about himself. That may not have been how it is seen in Bangladesh, but that is how it is being seen in India, where his admirers and critics are busy debating what role Modi may have played in 1971. And a solemn occasion meant to mark the night the Pakistan army unleashed Operation Searchlight—with the arrest of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and other leaders, accompanied by merciless killings on the Dhaka University campus and beyond, and the subsequent declaration of independence—has turned into a story about Modi.