India After Independence
Political journey of India from 1947 – 2007
Voyage of Indian politics from 1947 to 2007 has not been very smooth. At
the strike of midnight on August 14, 1947 India began its experiment of
democracy against all odds. The first generation statesmen to the next
bracket of leaders, all have allowed democracy to permeate into the
Indian system right from the national level to the local Panchayats.
60th birthday of India is just the right occasion to delve into the
memory lanes of Indian political scenario from the Nehru era to the
present times to see the journey of this stable nation.
It was
not even six months after India gained independence, when ‘Father of the
Nation’ Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated on January 30, 1948. His
untimely death was a big blow to the nation, which was struggling hard
to establish state authority, manage the accession of princely states
among other Herculean tasks
The conjoined twins – India and
Pakistan, who were separated at the birth of their independence soon
were embroiled in battle over the claim of Kashmir when Pakistan sent
tribes, the Maharaja quickly accede to India. The Indian forces could
have brought the entire territory under its control but then Nehru made
one of the most disputed decisions and halted the Indian Army in its
track and seeds of discord were sown and the case rests there. Soon
afterwards the Karachi Agreement was signed in 1949. Under this
agreement a ceasefire line was established that had to be supervised by
UN observers and Kashmir issue would be solved through arbitration.
First elections in independent India
1951-52
saw the first general election of India. These were the first ever
polls to be held under the new constitution, drawn up with the British
parliamentary system as a model. However, the biggest let down of the
polls was that about 176 million people were eligible to vote and an
abysmally low figure of 15% amongst them were
Congress passed the
first litmus test of democracy by winning a landslide victory. The party
won 249 of the 489 seats. Congress, however, suffered some unexpected
setbacks in three southern states – Tamil Nadu (Madras), Andhra Pradesh
(Hyderabad) and Kerala (Travancore) – where the party failed to win
majority in the face of strong support of the Communist Party.
During
his first stint after winning the elections, he tried to invent
solutions for political and economic crisis arising out of Partition.
Nehru’s government undertook a lot of economic measures to push India on
the path of industrialization and modernization. A lot of efforts were
invested to create big dams, vast industrial plants, institutions like –
Atomic Energy, Planning Commissions. All these institutions were
temples of growth of a ‘New India’.
Nehru led Congress to
another victory in the 1957 polls. But CPI in Kerala,who swept polls,
outnumbered Congress. A Left government was formed in the state. It was
the first time a Communist party anywhere in the world won a democratic
mandate. However, Centered dismissed the Left government and President’s
rule was declared in 1959 in the state.
In 1959, just before the new
decade could dawn, the ‘Iron Lady’ of India – Indira Gandhi made her
presence felt in the political arena. She was elected the Congress chief
in 1959 and was also a constant confidante of Nehru.
Decline of Nehru
Meanwhile,
in his second innings as the Prime Minister of India, Nehru authorized
Indian Army to annex Goa from the Portuguese rule and Goa officially
became part of India. But it was during 1962 – 63 that Nehru saw the
lowest point of his career. It was the humiliating defeat suffered at
the hands of China over border dispute that caused him certain loss of
face and undermined his position.
As a result, Prince Charming
had to face the first no-confidence motion in Parliament. Even on
critical policy matters, his hand picked cabinet ministers openly defied
him. He started facing rising problems and criticism. He drew flak for
indulging in nepotism when his daughter Indira was chosen the AICC
chief.
Despite all the odds, Nehru went to polls in 1962 and led
the Congress Party to victory though with a diminished majority. During
this general election Opposition parties Bharatiya Jana Sangh and
Swantatra Party and CPI performed much better than expectation.
But
Congress Party was in a major shock when in 1964 Nehru era came to an
end. The entire nation mourned the death of a towering figure.
Meanwhile, Gulzarilal Nanda was sworn in as an interim successor. Soon,
Congress handed over the responsibilities of Prime Ministership to LalBahadur Shastri, a Nehru loyalist.
Emergence of Indira
However,
at the urgings of Shastri, Indira contested elections and was inducted
in the Cabinet as the Minister of Information and Broadcasting.
While
she was on an official visit to Chennai riots broke out protesting
Hindi being made the national language. The hitch was that the southern
states are non-Hindi speaking. Indira took initiatives and spoke to
government officials, soothed the anger of community leaders. After the
announcement by President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan that English would
stay in India quelled the anger of the southern leaders completely.
But
the chief problem of Shastri’s administration was the first
Indo-Pakistan war in 1965. Pakistan’s aggressive intentions were focused
on Kashmir. When armed infiltrators from Pakistan started entering
J&K, Shastri told Pakistan that the situation would be dealt in an
eye for an eye and tooth for tooth approach.
Within no time,
India emerged victorious and Shastri flew to Russia to sign the Tashkent
ceasefire declaration with Pakistani President Ayub Khan.
Unfortunately, Shastri died of cardiac arrest the next day after inking
the declaration in Tashkent.
There was chaos in the political
circles and Indira Gandhi was elected as his successor. She thus became
the first woman to hold the Prime Ministerial position of the world`s
most populous democracy.
She passed the test of mandate by
getting herself easily elected in the 1967 elections. Indira and the
Congress Party returned to power but with a sharply reduced majority.
The support base of Congress had shrunk due to the wide array of
economic and social problems and public dissatisfaction with the
Government.
Though she tried several measures but could not beat
the food shortage back-breaking poverty, ignorance and economic
stagnation.
1967 also saw the rise of Naxalbari movement in West
Bengal, Andhra Pradesh. The root of the problem was seen in the
inequitable agrarian structure. But the authoritarian handling of this
crisis by the Left gave reasons to this movement to spread.
This
was also the time when the nation saw the formation of regional
political parties like Bharatiya Kranti Dal (BKD) in Uttar Pradesh,
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu and the Vishal Haryana
Party in Haryana. These political parties could see the day of the light
due to the sound economic background of the castes who wanted to float
them.
Indira`s magic
Coming back to the political
scenario it seemed Indira had to reinvent the Congress as the party was a
divided house, when she decided to back V V Giri in place of Neelam
Sanjiva Reddy for the post of President on the death of Zakir Hussain in
1969.
Indian political scenario of 1970s has become synonymous with country’s first woman Prime Minister.
In
1971, Indira galvanized her mass support with the "Garibi Hatao"
campaign. She proved it right what a Congress supporter once said
‘Indira is India and India is Indira’. The Congress Party won with a
huge majority in Parliament giving her unprecedented power.
The
same year India supported Bangladesh’s struggle for freedom and Pakistan
was forced to concede and it was declared an independent nation.
Rejoicing
the victory of 1971 war, Indira Gandhi signed the Simla Agreement with
Pakistan Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. This agreement aimed to put
an end to the conflict, maintain LoC and that the two nations would
settle their differences through bilateral negotiations.
What
further elevated Indira’s status in the eyes of the citizens was the
successful Pokhran nuclear test of 1974. She described the test for
"peaceful purposes". And India became the world`s youngest nuclear
power.
Troubled times: Emergency
But troubled times were
awaiting Indira. In June 1975, the Allahabad High Court found the
sitting Prime Minister guilty of election fraud. It ordered her to be
removed from her seat in Parliament and barred from running in elections
for six years. As a result, Indira got President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed
to declare a state of emergency. Emergency rule lasted for 19-months.
This period witnessed protests at various levels. Her popularity dipped
miserably and was pressured into holding fresh elections.
Fall on Indira govt
The
general elections of 1977 saw the fallout of Emergency rule. Indira was
badly routed by her opponents. Congress failed to win a single seat in
Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi. Janta Party came to
power. Her rival Morarji Desai became the Prime Minister and Sanjiva
Reddy was elected the President of India. Congress Party split, and
veteran Indira supporters like Jagjivan Ram abandoned her for Janta
Party.
Unable to govern, owing to internal fighting in the
coalition, Janta government`s Home Minister, Choudhary Charan Singh,
ordered the arrest of Indira and Sanjay Gandhi on a slew of charges.
However,
her arrest and long-running trial projected the image of a helpless
woman being victimized by the Government. This triggered Indira`s
political rebirth.
Desai resigned in June 1979, and Charan Singh was
appointed Prime Minister by the President. He attempted to form a
government with his Janata (Secular) coalition but lacked a majority. He
then bargained with Indira for support of Congress MPs causing uproar
by his political opponent. After a short interval, Indira withdrew her
initial support fresh elections were called in 1980.
Comeback of Indira
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During
this election it was the rise of Congress to power with a landslide
majority. They provided a stable government and a powerful Prime
Minister to the country. But this time rise of insurgent movements in
Assam and Punjab, and the continuing instability of Kashmir proved to be
the stumbling blocks before her government.
Operation Bluestar
In
1984, she ordered ‘Operation Bluestar’ to storm Golden Temple where
Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale’s had taken refuge. He was advocating Sikh
rights in the Harmandar Sahib’s premises as months of negotiations
failed to resolve the standoff. He was besieged in the premises of the
gurduwara.
Assassination of Indira
Sikhs everywhere were
outraged at the desecration of their holiest shrine. On October 31, 1984
she had to pay heavy price of this. Two of her Sikh bodyguards, Beant
Singh and Satwant Singh assassinated her at her residence. This resulted
in anti-Sikh riots that spread across the nation, killing thousands of
innocent people.
Rajiv comes to power
Void of her death
was filled by Rajiv Gandhi winning the year-end elections by a landslide
margin. He set a record of winning 401 Lok Sabha seats out of 508. His
government contributed a lot for the economic growth of the nation.
However,
the biggest mistake of Rajiv’s government was misreading of the Shah
Bano case. The Supreme Court questioned the validity of the shariat for
Muslims as well the competence of the Muslim jurists to interpret the
shariat. He tried to overturn Supreme Court’s judgment in this case to
pacify the Muslims. This led to a furore. Yet another failure was when,
he ordered reopening of Ram Janambhoomi temple, which was locked since
1948 to please the Hindus. This decisions rebounded and the reopening of
the temple caused anxiety among the Muslims and reversing the court
judgment upset the Hindus.
Controversies plaguing Rajiv govt
Another
controversy that marred the Rajiv Gandhi government was the financial
irregularities associated with the Bofors scandal. It was alleged that
Rajiv Gandhi himself had received kickbacks from the Bofors deal. This
scandal tarnished his clean and honest image.
As if this wasn’t
enough, Rajiv sent Indian Peacekeeping Force to Sri Lanka to check the
LTTE menace. The Army was bogged down by the civilian war in an
unfamiliar terrain. And this proved to be India’s most disastrous
overseas military operation.
In 1989, Rajiv was voted out of
power. He could only manage 197 seats in Lok Sabha and became the Leader
of Opposition. Meanwhile, the 1989 elections inaugurated the new
electoral era. The BJP and the lower caste parties began to eat into the
social base of the once mighty Congress.
1989 elections saw the
beginning of coalition government in India. In these elections Janta
Dal, BJP and Left Front cobbled together to form the National Front
government. V P Singh was made the Prime Minister
Mandal Commission implementation
Singh’s
government got a major upset while trying to implement the Mandal
Commission recommendations. Though the motive behind the implementation
was to give 27% reservation in government jobs, schools and colleges to
backward classes. But this resulted in nationwide protests in the form
of student immolations etc. The basic move was to cut the BJP’s vote
bank along caste lines but it turned out to be a big fiasco. In a major
showdown, BJP withdrew support from the V P Singh government forcing it
out of power within less than a year.
At the same time
(beginning of ‘90s), L K Advani undertook the famous political
procession ‘Ram Rath Yatra’ from Somnath to Mumbai propagating national
integration. But most importantly, he vouched that the construction of
Ram Mandir would begin on October 30, 1990 no matter what. He also gave
the message of BJP’s association with RSS-VHP.
But again the
national focus shifted to Rajiv Gandhi in 1991. While on a campaign for
the Congress Lok Sabha candidate from Sriperumbudur, Rajiv was
assassinated by a female LTTE suicide bomber. The whole nation went into
mourning.
Spotlight: Ramjanambhoomi
Time flew and
Ramjanambhoomi again came in spotlight. But the movement reached its
peak when thousands of kar sevaks converged in Ayodhya and demolished
within minutes the Babri Masjid on December 06, 1992. This act was
condemned across the globe.
Just to settle scores for razing
Babri Masjid, Dawood Ibrahim planned 1993 Mumbai blasts that left scores
dead and innumerable injured.
Two separate cases were filed–
one pertaining to the Babri Madjid demolition which is still sub-judice.
While 1993 Mumbai blast case has just concluded awarding death sentence
to 12 and lifers to 19.
BJP in power for 13 days
Soon
there were elections in 1996 and it resulted in a hung Parliament. BJP
emerged as the single largest party with 161 seats followed by Congress
with 140 seats. BJP was invited to form the government and Atal Bihari
Vajpayee formed the government only for 13 days, as it could not manage
support from other parties.
Exit of Vajpayee government, saw
another coalition government known as the United Front at the
centrestage. All the non-BJP, non-Congress parties got together to form
this government. This government, however, had external support from
Congress. United Front government saw two Prime Ministers Deve Gowda and
I K Gujral and lasted only two years in power.
The moment Jain
Commission named DMK members behind Rajiv’s assassination, Congress
withdrew support from United Front government. This resulted in Gujral’s
resignation.
Birth of NDA
When the United Front government
fell, National Democratic Alliance (NDA), a constituent of 13 parties,
was formed led by BJP and they formed the government.
NDA
government in May 1998 conducted five nuclear tests codenamed ‘Shakti’.
In international arena India was condemned for conducting the tests but
was recongnised as a nuclear power.
This government collapsed
within a year due to the pull out of AIADMK. This led to elections in
1999. And this time around NDA was elected with a popular mandate and it
served its full term.
During his tenure as the Prime Minister
of India in 1999, Vajpayee made a historic bus trip to Lahore and had
met held peace talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. But
just two months after the visit, Pakistan waged the Kargil war.
Pakistani armed infiltrators had crossed over into Indian side of LoC
and tried to push back the Indian troops. However, Indian Army
successfully recaptured its lost territory.
Crisis for the Vajpayee
government did not end after the Kargil War. The government faced
another difficult time when Indian Airlines flight IC-814 was hijacked
demanding release of three terrorists. The Indian government gave into
the demands of the hijackers and got the safe release of all the
passengers but one, who was killed.
Rough road to politics
Though
Sonia’s public life began soon after her mother-in-law Indira Gandhi’s
assassination. She, however, began her political innings after taking
the primary membership of the party in the Calcutta Plenary Session of
1997. She was elected the Congress chief in 1998 and was the fifth
member of the Nehru-Gandhi family to occupy the post. She had replaced
Sitaram Kesri.
She was elected the Leader of Opposition of the
13th Lok Sabha in 1999. During her campaign, her opponents verbally
attacked her foreign birth to their advantage innumerable times. They
also played up her not taking Indian citizenship for 15 years after her
wedding and her lack of fluency in Hindi or any Indian language.
Indian politics and the millennium
The
millennium has brought constant crisis for India arising out incidents
of terrorism, insurgency or may be natural calamities. In early 2000, US
President Clinton came to India and the frozen Indo-US due to the 1998
nuclear tests relations seemed to thaw. But at the same time the
Chhittisinghpora massacre occurred.
The same year also creation
of three new states -- Jharkhand out of Bihar, Uttarkhand out of Uttar
Pradesh and Chhattisgarh out of Madhya Pradesh.
Next year (2001)
Bhuj earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale shook the entire
nation. It brought with itself devastation, destruction and unending
tales of miseries.
End of 2001, the temple of Indian democracy
was attacked – December 13, 2001. Five terrorists attacked the
Parliament when it was in session. But the courageous security personnel
managed to kill all of them and also lost five of their own soldiers.
NDA
government pointed finger at the Pakistani based militants for the
attack. A stand-off between the two countries followed the attack. This
led to heavy troop deployment on the borders with Pakistan since the
1971 war.
In the very next year 2002 Godhra riots broke out in
Gujarat. Approximately 750 Muslims and 250 Hindus were killed. Narendra
Modi government was allegedly charged with genocide in several quarters
of the media.
Just a few months later in September, terrorists
attacked Akshardham Temple of Gujarat. In this incident 29 civilians
were dead. NSG commandoes had to be called to salvage the situation.
But
in the year of horrific happenings, India’s missile man A P J Abdul
Kalam’s election as the President of India was one of the most positive
event. He during his tenure raised the office of President to
unprecedented heights of trust and devotion.
2004 Lok Sabha polls
The
new decade brought hopes for Congress once again to come at the helm of
affairs. In the 2004 Lok Sabha polls, Sonia campaigned across the
length and breadth of the country with the slogan of ‘Aam Admi’ She
questioned who is BJP’s ‘India Shining for?’ Following the unexpected
defeat of NDA in 2004 elections, she was chosen to head the 15-party
alliance – the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) along with the Left to
head the government.
She declined the opportunity to assume the
office of Prime Minister and handed over the nations baton to Dr.
Manmohan Singh. She, however, retained the post of Leader of Majority
and the Chairperson of Congress Parliamentary Party.
Soon after the
UPA came into existence, it faced the hard reality of tsunami. The
deadly waves caused an earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale. At
least 10,000 people were killed in India and several lakhs were turned
homeless, island of Car Nicobar was virtually wiped out off the map.
In
2005, UPA bravely faced another national tragedy – the October 08
(2005) quake which was 7.6 on the Richter scale. Killer quake played
havoc and heavy devastation in Kashmir. Such was the damage that when
Prime Minister Mahmohan Singh visited the affected areas, he called upon
the “resilience of the nation” to tide over it.
UPA had to face
another circumstance of misfortune when terrorist attack jam-packed
Mumbai locals during rush-hour in 2006. There were seven explosions
within 11 minutes on the local trains. 187 people were killed and
hundreds were injured. Lashkar’s Azam Cheema had hatched the plan. The
damage was immense but Mumbaikars were spirited enough to get back to
their daily chores.
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