On the 15th anniversary of Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw’s death, Congress Chief Mallikarjun Kharge paid tribute to the military commander, who was a crucial architect of India’s victory over Pakistan in 1971. “Fondly known as Sam Bahadur, he was a key architect of India’s victory against Pakistan in 1971, during the Bangladesh Liberation War,” Kharge said in a tweet. “One of India’s finest military commanders, he led the Armed Forces from the front in a career spanning four decades & five wars,” Kharge said in another tweet.
“We revere his unflinching valour and selfless service to the nation,” he added. Field Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw was the mastermind behind several military victories. He is credited with engineering India’s greatest military triumph in the 1971 Indo-Pak war, which resulted in the establishment of Bangladesh.
Manekshaw, also known as Sam Bahadur, was the first Indian officer to head the Gorkhas after India gained independence. During the Second World War, he was awarded the Military Cross on the battlefield. Manekshaw was born on April 3, 1914, in Amritsar and he died of pneumonia at the Military Hospital in Wellington, Tamil Nadu, on June 27, 2008, at the age of 94.
