Jagjit Singh Aurora
Jagjit Singh Aurora, the general who fashioned India's 1971 war victory that led to the birth of Bangladesh, who oversaw the surrender of 93,000 Pakistani soldiers.
Aurora, who as lieutenant general headed the Indian Army's Kolkata-based Eastern Command in the 1971 war.
"Not only is he a national hero but he carried this distinction very lightly on his shoulders. There couldn't have been amore humble, more gentle general officer," said Lt. Gen. (retired) V.R. Raghavan.
Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh said: "His army life and achievements are well known. He is the real hero of the 1971 war."
Singh recalled he had worked along with Aurora after the anti-Sikh riots that followed former prime minister Indira Gandhi's assassination in 1984 and during the insurgency in the Punjab.
"We travelled together to pacify the people and tried to create communal harmony. He was a very compassionate man."
Aurora, who was decorated with the Padma Bhushan and Param Vishisht Seva Medal, received the surrender document from Lt. Gen. A.A.K. Niazi after 93,000 Pakistani troops surrendered to the Indian Army in Dacca, as the capital of the then East Pakistan was known, Dec 16, 1971.
Aurora retired from the army in 1973. He was later a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of parliament, where he represented the Akali Dal.
He passed away on May 3rd 2005 at the age of 89.
In recognition of war hero Lt Gen J.S. Aurora’s life-long campaign for the victims of 1984 Sikh riots, the Golden Temple in Amritsar — the prime symbol of Operation Bluestar — will soon house his portrait and some of the 1971 war memorabilia.
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), which has decided to put up the famous surrender photograph inside the temple, still recalls Aurora’s blunt deposition before the Nanavati Commission, taking on the Congress throughout the 1980s.
At the General’s antim hardas ceremony at Gurdwara Rakabganj yesterday, former prime minister I.K. Gujral, who had accommodated Aurora and his wife during the riots, said: ‘‘General Aurora had said, it is such a shame that in my own country, I cannot go back to my own house.’’
Akali Dal leader Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa announced before a 2,000-strong crowd that the famous photograph of Aurora receiving the Pakistani surrender note and some of his war memorabilia will be kept on the Golden Temple premises.
