Tripura Pradesh Youth Congress on Tuesday staged a massive protest in Agartala condemning alleged removal of the historic moment of the signing of the surrender of 92,000 soldiers including the Pakistan Army Chief to the Indian Army on December 16, 1971 from the Indian Army Headquarters.

Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday claimed in Lok Sabha that a photograph of Pakistan surrendering before India has been removed from the army headquarters. In her Zero Hour reference, Gandhi said the picture was removed on Monday, which also happens to be Vijay Diwas.

The photograph, showing Pakistan Army's Lt General AAK Niazi signing the formal surrender of 92,000 army personnel after their defeat at the hands of Indian Army in 1971, ended the 13-day war and led to the creation of Bangladesh.

"On the day of Vijay Diwas, the historic photograph was removed by the government from the army headquarters. This is nothing but an attempt to negate the army's glorious history achieved under the leadership of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi and Youth Congress strongly condemn the move and demand restoration of the photograph to its original place," said Youth Congress state president Nilkamal Saha.

"The photograph mirrored the valour of the Indian Army in the Bangladesh Liberation War. This was achieved in exchange for the blood of army personnel who fought the war alongside muktijoddhas to defeat the Pakistan Army in erstwhile East Pakistan," he said.

“We think that the Indian Army has been insulted and the Modi government is conspiring to erase the country's history. Narendra Modi is erasing the history of the Indian Army's historic moment to show his aggressive attitude towards Indira Gandhi,” said Saha.

 The people of the state have seen before that the Post Office  Chowmuhani, in the heart of the Agartala city , where 1971 war memorial  including army’s war cannons and tankers kept as souvenirs , but after the BJP came to power in the state in 2018, it was removed from there, said Saha

“We, the Youth Congress, strongly condemn it and demand that the Indian Army Headquarters immediately put up that picture again and that cannon at the Post Office Chowmuhani should be returned to its previous place,” said Saha.

Along with Youth Congress President Neel Kamal Saha, Youth Congress leader Mohammad Sahajan Islam, student leader Amir Hossain and others were present during the protest.