ABSTRACT
Ironically, the new government simply carried to its illogical extreme the fullthroated anti-American campaign unleashed during the late 1960s and the early 1970s by Indira Gandhi, its number one enemy. The culmination of Mrs Gandhi's anti-US stridency came in 1971 when the Indian government defied Washington and with support from the erstwhile Soviet Union, sent Indian troops to East Pakistan to help an insurgency led by Bengalis. East Pakistan was separated from its western big brother by more than 1000 miles of Indian territory. Moreover, Bengali-speaking people dominated East Pakistan, whose culture was as different from the Punjabidominant culture of West Pakistan as German and Spanish. In 1970, the ethnic Bengali majority launched an insurrection, seeking independence from Pakistan. The military government in Islamabad sought to crush the Bengali revolt. As millions of refugees escaped into India to avoid the brutal war, India intervened on the side of the Bengalis. Its military operation was decisive. Pakistani troops were vanquished and a new nation, Bangladesh, was born out of East Pakistan. The 1971 intervention by India saw Mrs Gandhi's popularity soar. However, after the OPEC price rises in 1973, things began to go disastrously wrong. India's isolationist economy simply could not cope with the huge dent in the balance of payments caused by a ballooning oil import bill.
