The Hindu : Indira Gandhi asked me whether I planned a coup: Manekshaw

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 04, 2003

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Indira Gandhi asked me whether I planned a coup: Manekshaw

New Delhi April 3. Just after India's victory in the 1971 war for liberation of Bangladesh when the armed forces were at the height of their popularity, for the first time in the country there were fears of a coup-d-etat, and Field Marshal S.H.F.J. Manekshaw today said he was confronted by the former Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, over it.

Reminiscing about the most glorious chapter in the annals of the Indian Army, Manekshaw, in his just-released biographical film, recounted that soon after the victory he was mobbed by admirers all over the country and often asked when he was going to take over the reins of power in India. The Field Marshal, who was felicitated today on his 90th birthday, said rumours of a coup-d-etat had got so strong that he was called by Indira Gandhi and confronted over the reports.

``When I walked into the Prime Minister's chamber in Parliament House, she was looking forlorn and directly asked me whether I was trying to stage a coup to topple her,'' he said in a direct narration in the film titled `In war and Peace — The Life of Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw'.

Though refusing to elaborate to newsmen here this evening, the Field Marshal in the film said that when Indira Gandhi asked him he had replied ``Madam Prime Minister, don't you think I would not prove to be a worthy replacement,'' as he asserted that there was no move by the Army to stage a coup.

He reiterated that India had lost a golden opportunity to solve the Kashmir issue ``once and for all'' at the Shimla Indo-Pak. summit when Indira Gandhi had let off late the Pakistani Prime Minister, Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto, with a mere promise on the issue when India held 1 lakh Pakistani prisoners of war and some territory on the western front. — PTI

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