CALCUTTA, India, Dec. 6— East Pakistanis in Calcutta, the headquarters of the secession movement, celebrated India's formal recognition of that government today with happy processions, slogan shouting and dancing and singing. But the five‐member cabinet itself was nowhere in sight — a situation typical of this group of uncharismatic politicians waiting for a man in a West Pakistani prison to show them the way.

The man is Sheik Mujibur Rahman, who everyone agrees is the only person capable of constructively leading what his followers call Bangla Desh (Bengal Nation) through what promises to be a chaotic infancy. Sheik Mujib, as he is known, has been in prison facing treason charges since the night of last March 25, when the Pakistani army swept across East Pakistan to try to crush his popularly elected autonomy movement.

If the Shiek emerges alive from the present war between India and Pakistan — which resulted from the crackdown on the autonomy movement — then Bangla Desh, as East Pakistan will be called might have chance to be more than swamp of poverty and backwardness and neglect.

But if the Bengali leader's trial, now under way, results in his execution, the men who are now governing in his absence may be helpless before the centrifugal forces of politics in East Pakistan.

Invisible Men

None of these men have a national following. Before Sheik Mujib's imprisonment, they were virtually invisible men, who sat at his side during news conferences and other public appearances and never said a word.

Until now, their government of Bangla Desh has been an all‐Indian show — functioning on Indian soil, following Indian advice and in general being dependent on India for its official existence.

The No. 1 man in the government now is Syed Nazrul Islam, the acting president (Sheik Mujib is president). Tajuddin Ahmed, the prime minister, used to be No. 1, but many members of the Awami League, the Sheik's political party, thought he was getting power‐hungry and making too many deals with the Indian Government, so he was demoted.

The Indians, to insure their objective of having a friendly nation on their eastern border, have tried to guide the Bangla Desh leadership into paths acceptable to New Delhi. For ex ample, an advisory committee was attached to the government that included pro‐Moscow leftist parties, which won not a single seat in last year's pivotal elections. The Awami League captured 167 of the 169 seats from East Pakistan in the National Assembly, giving it a national majority of the 313 seats for the entire nation.

Thee inclusion of the leftists was a concession to the Soviet Union, which has been India's stanchest supporter throughout this crisis.

Socialism Is Mild

There is nothing leftist about the Bangla Desh government. Though the Awami League plat form talked about Socialism, it was the mild Socialism of the liberal middle class, from which the party's leadership is drawn.

The cabinet and most of the elected members of the National Assembly, which never met, are lawyers or property owners or merchants. Their autonomy movement, which quickly turned into a demand for independence after the army crack down, is not an ideological movement, but a nationalistic one.

Nevertheless, the Bangla Desh government may have to accomodate some leftists, be cause Communists groups that have been, fighting on the side of the Bengali guerrillas are certain to demand a voice.

The guerrillas will probably demand a much larger voice, for they have been doing the dirty work. In fact, many officers and men of the Mukti Bahini—or Liberation Forces— have expressed bitterness about what they consider the cabinet's failure to demonstrate proper concern about the troops in the field and failure to visit them often enough.

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's recognition of the Bangla Desh government today raised the question of whether the government would set up temporary headquarters in one of the areas liberated by the Indian troops in their invasion of East Pakistan, which started three nights ago after a Pakistani air attack on Indian air fields.

Some diplomatic observers think the Bangla Desh government will not actually move into East Pakistan until Indian troops have taken the entire country.