In the Wake of Bangla Desh

THE EVENTS surrounding the emergence of Bangla Desh have had profound consequences for India's views of the role and aims of their country in the international community.* National self-confidence and self-esteem, which had been very severely shaken by the disastrous rout of the Indian Army in the i962 border war with China, began to revive in the second half of the i960's, especially as a result of the i965 war with Pakistan, the substantial achievements of the green revolution and, still later, the showing of national unity that characterized Mrs. Gandhi's massive electoral victory in i97i. Until recently, however, persistent and nagging doubts about the nation's capacity for sustained and effective domestic or foreign action have continued to characterize Indian self-examination. But Mrs. Gandhi's calm, shrewd and successful handling of the Bangla Desh crisis largely dispelled those doubts. Not only was the prime adversaryPakistan-successfully defeated, but the U.S. Government, perceived by Indians as self-righteous and unsympathetic in this situation, had, in their view, been thwarted and humiliated. India, then, is on the crest of a wave of optimism and confidence. Speculation about her possible pre-eminent role in South Asia and a position of leadership in Southeast Asia that, just a year ago, would have seemed visionary to many Indians, now has a ring of plausibility. It is thus useful to examine in some detail the mutual perceptions that will shape the interactions she has with Japan and the nations of Southeast Asia

Bengali · Physics · Political science · Wake · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Indian History and Philosophy · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East · South Asian Studies and Conflicts