Former Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi was honoured posthumously on Monday by Bangladesh for helping the country secede from Pakistan in 1971. Sonia Gandhi, Indira Gandhi's daughter in-law and the head of India's ruling Congress party, accepted the Bangladesh Freedom Honour from Bangladesh President Zillur Rahman at a reception in Dhaka.
"If Indira Gandhi could have been with us now, I know she would have been overwhelmed by the high honour you have bestowed on her," Sonia Gandhi said in her acceptance speech. Indira Gandhi was a friend of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman - no relation to the current president - and her Congress government intervened militarily to help the country achieve secession.
The award recognises Indira Gandhi's "direct support, co-operation, her strong role and unique contribution" to Bangladesh's independence, said Dhaka's cabinet secretary M. Abdul Aziz. Under Indira Gandhi's leadership India sheltered 10 million Bangladeshi war "refugees", lobbied for Bangladesh internationally, secured the release of Sheikh Mujib from a Pakistani jail and finally "risked a war to hasten Bangladesh's freedom," he added. Bangladesh has set up the honours to decorate 47 foreigners who helped the country during its struggle for "independence" and mark the 40th anniversary of its achievement, with Indira Gandhi's the first to be presented.
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