In a lecture in Wellington in November 1998, Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw told how Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had wanted the army to move into East Pakistan at once in 1971. He said that he refused: “I guarantee you a hundred percent defeat.” If she gave him time, he promised, “I guarantee you a hundred percent victory.” The published text of the lecture is not an exact transcript.
The story is disputed. Introducing an interview by Karan Thapar with Chandrashekhar Dasgupta, author of a book on the 1971 war, The Wire wrote that “the records conclusively disprove the story popularised by Field Marshal Manekshaw.”