This book was referenced in The India Doctrine and now an attempt is being made to ban it in India -
Lawyers demand ban on Bangladesh war book
16 April 2012
statesman news service
KOLKATA, 16 APRIL: The All-India Legal Aid Forum has written to the state and Union governments asking them to ban a book about the Bangladesh War of Independence because it is “anti-Indian”.
The book, Bangladesher Swadhinater Juddhe Raw ebong CIA, was written by Bangaldeshi journalist Masudul Haque who works for the newspaper Iftahar. Mr Joydeep Mukherjee, general secretary of the legal forum and a Supreme Court advocate, said the book “criticises India, RAW and the CIA and says that RAW was the main culprit to divide undivided Pakistan. We condemn this because our competent intelligence agency is not involved in this matter.”
He also objected to the “vulgar manner” in which Sheikh Mujiboor Rahman, the first President of Bangladesh, has been depicted as a “puppet of RAW and the CIA”. He said it showed “disrespect” and is an attempt to “malign” the former leader.
Former Indian Police Services officer, Mr B P Saha, who has written a first-person account of the war, agrees that the book should be banned. “This is not history,” he said, but “a distortion of fact.” He said any claims that RAW and the CIA might have worked together in Bangladesh is nonsense, as India at that time was allied with the Soviet Union. “The USA even sent their Seventh Fleet to try to humble India,” he said. Mr Mukherjee said that they are raising the issue now, even though the book was first published in February 2011, because they only just learnt of the book’s existence. He did not know how many copies of the book had been sold but that Maoists are selling the book in different parts of the city. He said those selling the “anti-Indian propaganda” should be arrested.
He said that it was not enough just to debate the content of the book, or write counter-histories, because it is affecting India’s relationship with Bangladesh. It is a “pre-planned” attempt to “destroy the good diplomatic relations with the present Bangladesh government,” he said.
But even if it has been written with an ulterior motive, Ms Smruti Pattanaik, an expert in military and politics in South Asia at the Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses, said it isn’t something people should get too bothered about. “I don’t think this kind of book has had any impact on India-Bangladesh relations,” she said. It might be bad history, she said, but “it’s not the first time it is coming.” The policies that India adopts today towards Bangladesh are more important, she said.
Mr Mukherjee said the forum has written to the High Commissioner of Bangladesh in India, the Union ministry of Home Affairs and chief minister Mamata Banerjee asking them to ban the book. Nobody at the High Commission or the ministry was available for comment.
Lawyers demand ban on Bangladesh war book