Because the Indians of remote antiquity left no written
records of their social, cultural, and political activities,
historians are obliged to rely almost exclusively on
archaeological discoveries for an understanding of the
earliest civilization on the subcontinent. Evidence
indicates that, possibly during the Neolithic period of the
Stone Age, the aboriginal inhabitants of the subcontinent
were dispersed and partially assimilated by invading
Dravidian tribes, who probably came from the west. On the
basis of archaeological discoveries in the Indus Valley, the
civilization subsequently developed by the Dravidians
equaled and possibly surpassed in splendor the civilizations
of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. About the middle of the
3rd millennium BC, Dravidian India was subjected to the
first of a sustained series of invasions by tribes of the
Indo-European linguistic stock. These tribes, of uncertain
racial origin but usually referred to as Indo-Aryans,
entered the subcontinent through the mountain passes along
the northwestern frontier and gradually occupied most of the
territory north of the Vindhya Range and west of the Yamuna
River. Many Dravidians fled to the north and into the Indian
Peninsula, regions where the Dravidian linguistic stock is
still numerous. The remnants of the Dravidian people and, in
the view of some authorities, much of their culture, were
absorbed by the Indo-Aryans.
Vedic Period
Obscurity surrounds Indo-Aryan political history for
many centuries after the conquest of the Dravidians, but the
Vedas, a collection of sacred writings dating from about
1200 BC, contains considerable information on Indo-Aryan
social practices, religious beliefs, and cultural
attainments (see Veda). As depicted in some Vedic hymns, the
civilization that emerged during the early centuries of
Indo-Aryan dominance on the subcontinent was notable in
several respects. Tribal political organs functioned
according to democratic principles, the social status of
women compared favorably with that of men, and the
institution of marriage was regarded as sacred. The
Indo-Aryans had attained advanced skills in various arts and
sciences, including livestock raising, metal handicrafts,
carpentry, boatbuilding, and military science.
The Vedic hymns composed during this and later periods
also depict the emergence and crystallization of the great
socioreligious system known as Hinduism. Virtually all that
is known with certainty of their political attainments is
that the Indo-Aryans, in the course of the 1st millennium
BC, established 16 autonomous states in the region bounded
by the Himalayas, the southern reaches of the Ganges, the
Vindhya Range, and the Indus Valley. Of these states,
comprising both republics and kingdoms, the most important
was Kosala, a kingdom situated in the region occupied by
modern Oudh. Other important kingdoms were Avanti, Vamsas,
and Magadha. The last-named kingdom, which occupied the
territory of modern Bihar, became, about the middle of the
6th century BC, the dominant state of India. During the
reign of its first great king Bimbisara (reigned about
543-491 BC), Buddha and Vardhamana Jnatiputra or Nataputta
Mahavira, the respective founders of Buddhism and Jainism,
preached and taught in Magadha.
In 326 BC Alexander the Great led an expedition across
the Hindu Kush into northern India. He won several victories
during his march into India, climaxing the first phase of
his campaign by defeating the native King Porus near the
Hydaspes River (now the Jhelum). In the course of the next
two years Alexander achieved sovereignty over a large
section of northwestern and central India. The political
effects of the invasion were relatively insignificant,
mainly because of the internal strife that arose in the
Macedonian Empire after Alexander's death in 323 BC, but the
art, sculpture, and science of the Greeks figured with
increasing importance thereafter in the development of
Indian culture.
The Maurya Dynasty
Macedonian overlordship in India was destroyed in about
321 BC when a native leader named Chandragupta, who became
known to the Greeks as Sandrocottus, fomented a successful
rebellion and seized control of Magadha. Within the next
decade Chandragupta, founder of the Maurya dynasty of Indian
kings, extended his sovereignty over most of the
subcontinental mainland. He was assisted by Kautilya (or
Chanakya), a Brahman chief minister who may have been the
main contributor to the Arthasastra, a textbook on politics
akin to the Italian historian Niccolò Machiavelli's
The Prince. The military power of the Indian Empire caused
Seleucus I, one of Alexander's generals and the founder of
the Seleucid Empire, to arrange an alliance with the Maurya
ruler. Concluded in 305 BC, the treaty was consolidated by
some kind of marriage arrangement between Chandragupta and a
daughter of the Seleucid ruler.
As one result of the close relations between the two
empires, Greek cultural influence became ever more
widespread in northern India. The Maurya dynasty endured
until 184 BC. During the reign (circa 273?-232? BC) of
Asoka, its greatest sovereign, Buddhism became the dominant
religion of the empire. Of the dynasties that appeared in
the period immediately following the downfall of the
Mauryas, the Sunga endured longest, ruling more than a
century. The chief event of this period (184?-72? BC) was
the persecution and decline of Buddhism in India and the
triumph of Brahmanism. In consequence of this victory of the
Brahman priests of Hinduism, the caste system became deeply
ingrained in the Indian social structure, creating great
obstacles to national unification.
An extensive section of western India was occupied in
about 100 BC by invading Sakas (Scythians), then in retreat
before the Yue-chi of Central Asia. Pushing southward, the
Yue-chi subsequently settled in northwestern India, where
Kadphises, one of their kings, founded the Kushan dynasty
about AD 40. A large part of northern India shortly fell
under the sway of the Kushan kings. One of the early Yue-chi
monarchs established diplomatic and commercial relations
with the Roman Empire. The rulers of the native Andhra
dynasty, which came into control of the former Sunga
dominions about 27 BC and endured for about 460 years, made
repeated attempts to expel the Sakas. These attempts ended
in failure, and about AD 236 the Sakas attained complete
sovereignty over western India. In AD 225, shortly before
the fall of the Andhra dynasty, the Yue-chi realm also
disintegrated. The ensuing century was a period of political
confusion throughout most of India.
Gupta Empire
In 320 a Magadha raja named Chandragupta I (reigned
320-330?), who had completed the conquest of neighboring
territories, founded a new imperial regime and the Gupta
dynasty. His grandson Chandragupta II (reigned 375?-413)
vastly expanded the realm, subjugating all of the
subcontinent north of the Narmada River. Under the rulers of
the Gupta dynasty, which reigned for 160 years, Indian
culture reached new heights. The period was one of sustained
peace, steady economic advance, and intellectual
accomplishment, particularly in art, music, and literature.
Equally important, Hinduism, which had long been in a state
of decline, experienced a robust renaissance through
absorption of some features of Buddhism.
Toward the close of the 5th century, Hunnish invaders,
often referred to as the White Huns, pushed into India from
Central Asia. The Gupta Empire broke up under the blows of
these marauders, whose supremacy went unchallenged for
nearly a century. Foreign military reverses, notably at the
hands of the Turks about 565, finally undermined the Hunnish
power in India. Among the contemporary descendants of the
Huns who remained on the subcontinent are certain tribal
groups of modern Rajasthan. Another powerful kingdom was
founded in northern India, in 606, by Harsha, the last Hindu
monarch of consequence in Indian national history. During
his reign, Harsha secured control of almost the entire
mainland and attempted, without success, to conquer the
Deccan. The dominions of Harsha disintegrated into a
multiplicity of warring petty states and principalities
following his death. This anarchic state of affairs, which
had also been generally characteristic of the situation on
the peninsula, prevailed throughout India until the
beginning of the 11th century.
Muslim and Mongol Invasions
As the prolonged period of internal strife in India drew
to a close, a new power, solidly united under Islam, had
arisen in western Asia. The new power was Khorasan,
previously a Samanid province, which had been transformed
into an independent kingdom by Mahmud of Ghaznì
(reigned 999-1030). A capable warrior whose sovereignty over
Khorasan had been recognized by the caliph of Baghdad,
Mahmud in 1000 launched the first of 17 consecutive
expeditions across the Afghan frontier into India. These
incursions were marked by frequent victories over the
disunited Indians, and by 1025 Mahmud had sacked many
western Indian cities, including the fabulously wealthy port
of Somnath, and had annexed the Punjab to his empire. The
most successful of the Muslim rulers after Mahmud was
Muhammad of Ghur, whose reign began in 1173. Regarded by
most historians as the real founder of Muslim power in
India, he initiated his campaigns of conquest in 1175 and,
in the course of the next three decades, subjugated all of
the Indo-Gangetic plain west of Benares (now Varanasi). On
the death of Muhammad of Ghur, Qutb-ud-Din Aybak, his
viceroy of Delhi and a former slave, proclaimed himself
sultan. The Slave dynasty founded by Qutb-ud-Din, its only
outstanding ruler, endured until 1288.
Another capable Muslim, Ala-ud-Din (reigned 1296-1316),
second of the succeeding Khalji dynasty, consolidated the
Indian realm by conquering the Deccan. Before the end of his
reign, the Mongols began to infiltrate the northern
frontiers of the Muslim dominions in India. Muhammad
Tughluq, the last Delhi sultan of importance, completely
alienated both the Muslims and the subject Hindus by his
cruelty and religious fanaticism. As the empire was torn by
revolutionary strife, some provinces, notably Bengal,
seceded.
The internal turmoil increased after Tughluq's death; in
1398, when the Mongol conqueror Tamerlane led his armies
into India, he met little organized resistance. Climaxing
his victorious invasion, Tamerlane sacked and destroyed
Delhi and massacred its inhabitants. The Mongol conqueror
withdrew from India shortly after the sack of Delhi, leaving
the remnants of the empire to Mahmud (reigned 1399-1413),
the last of the Tughluqs. Mahmud was succeeded, in 1414, by
the first of the Sayyids, a dynasty that was later driven
from power by Bahlol (reigned 1451-1489), founder of the
Lodi line of kings. The Lodi dynasty, generally weak and
ineffectual, was terminated in 1526. In that year Babur, a
descendant of Tamerlane and the founder of the great Mughal
dynasty, climaxed a series of raids into India by defeating
the Lodi army. Babur soon occupied Agra, the Lodi capital,
and proclaimed himself emperor of the Muslim dominions.
Within four years of his initial victory, Babur controlled a
large part of the Indian mainland.
The Mughal Empire
Akbar, the grandson of Babur, was the greatest sovereign
of the Mughal Empire. During his reign, which extended from
1556 to 1605, he subdued rebellious princes in various
regions, including Punjab, Rajputana (modern Rajasthan), and
Gujarat. He added Bengal to his realm in 1576, conquered
Kashmìr between 1586 and 1592, and annexed Sind in
1592. Between 1598 and 1601 he subjugated a number of the
Muslim kingdoms of the Deccan. In the administration of his
vast dominions, Akbar revealed remarkable organizational
ability. He secured the allegiance of hundreds of feudatory
rulers, promoted trade, introduced an equable system of
taxation, and encouraged religious tolerance. The Mughal
Empire attained its peak of cultural splendor under the rule
of Shah Jahan, grandson of Akbar. His reign (1628-1658)
coincided with the golden age of Indian Saracenic
architecture, best exemplified by the Taj Mahal.
Shah Jahan was driven from the throne in 1658 by his son
Aurangzeb, who took the title of Alamgir ("Conqueror of the
World"). Treacherous and aggressive, Aurangzeb murdered his
three brothers and waged a series of wars against the
autonomous kingdoms of India, sapping the moral and material
strength of the empire. During his campaigns in the Deccan,
the Marathas, a Scytho-Dravidian people, inflicted numerous
defeats on the imperial armies. The stability of the regime
of Aurangzeb was further undermined as a result of popular
antagonism to the religious bigotry he fostered. In the
course of his reign, which ended in 1707 with his death in
exile, the Sikhist faith obtained a strong foothold in
India.
In the half-century following the death of Aurangzeb,
the Mughal Empire ceased to exist as an effective state. The
political chaos of the period was marked by a rapid decline
of centralized authority, by the creation of numerous petty
kingdoms and principalities by Muslim and Hindu adventurers,
and by the formation of large independent states by the
governors of the imperial provinces. Among the first of the
large independent states to emerge was Hyderabad,
established in 1712. The tottering Mughal regime suffered a
disastrous blow in 1739 when the Persian king Nadir Shah led
an army into India and plundered Delhi. Among the loot
seized by the invaders, the sixth Muslim force to overrun
India, was the mammoth Koh-i-noor diamond and the fabulous
Peacock Throne, of solid gold inlaid with precious stones.
The Persian king soon withdrew from India, But in 1756 Delhi
was again captured-this time by Ahmad Shah, emir of
Afghanistan, who had previously seized Punjab. In 1760 the
Marathas and the Sikhs joined forces against the armies of
Ahmad Shah. The ensuing battle, fought at Panìpat on
January 7, 1761, resulted in complete victory for the
invaders. In 1764, following the withdrawal of the invaders
from India, the Mughal emperor regained his throne. His
authority, like that of his successors, was purely nominal,
however. With the defeat of the Marathas and the Sikhs, the
possibility of reunification of the Indian peoples into a
strong national state had vanished. India, long the arena of
bitter colonial rivalry among the maritime powers of Europe,
thereafter fell increasingly under the domination of Great
Britain.
Portuguese and Dutch Colonialism
Because of Muslim control of the trade arteries between
the Mediterranean and India, various European monarchs had
begun to dream of a new route to the Far East long before
Babur founded the Mughal Empire. The Portuguese devoted
remarkable zeal and initiative to the search for such a
route, and in 1497 and 1498 Vasco da Gama, one of the royal
navigators, led an expedition around the Cape of Good Hope
and across the Indian Ocean. On May 19, 1498, da Gama sailed
into the harbor of Calicut, on the Malabar Coast, opening a
new era of Indian history. Establishing friendly relations
with the dominant kingdom of the Deccan, the Portuguese
secured a monopoly of Indian maritime trade and maintained
it for a century. The Portuguese monopoly was broken early
in the 17th century by the Dutch East India Company, an
amalgamation of private Dutch commercial firms brought
together under the auspices of the Dutch government. During
the initial period of Dutch activity in the Far East, the
English entered the race for Far Eastern markets,
functioning, like the Dutch, through a private firm known
subsequently as the English East India Company. Company
negotiations with the Mughal ruler, Emperor Jahangir, were
successful, and in December 1612 the English founded their
first trading post at Surat, on the Gulf of Khambhat. On
November 29 a Portuguese fleet had attacked a number of
English vessels in the Gulf of Khambhat and the English had
triumphed in the ensuing battle. During the next decade the
Portuguese were defeated in several additional naval
engagements by the English, who thereafter encountered
little opposition in India from that quarter. The Dutch,
already entrenched in the Malay Archipelago, also endeavored
to drive the English out of India, but were themselves
eliminated as a serious competitive force before the end of
the 17th century. Meanwhile the English steadily expanded
their sphere of influence and operations. They secured a
foothold in Orissa in 1633, founded the city of Madras in
1639, obtained trading privileges in Bengal in 1651,
acquired Bombay from Portugal in 1661, arranged a commercial
treaty with the Maratha ruler Shivaji Bhonsle in 1674, and
established Calcutta in 1690. Native opposition to the
last-named move, begun in 1686, was forcibly
suppressed.
Growing French and British Rivalry
During the first half of the 18th century the French,
who had begun to operate in India about 1675, emerged as a
serious threat to the growing power and prosperity of the
English East India Company. The friction between France and
Great Britain reached an acute stage in 1746, when a French
fleet seized Madras. This action, a phase of the War of the
Austrian Succession (1740-1748), and the subsequent fighting
in India ended in a stalemate; in 1748 the French returned
Madras to the British. Within three years the smoldering
feud between the European rivals again flared into armed
conflict. Robert Clive, an employee of the English East
India Company, won distinction and victory in this phase of
the struggle, essentially a fight for control of Hyderabad
and the Carnatic. The final stage of the contest between the
French and British for dominance in India developed as an
extension of the Seven Years' War in Europe. In the course
of the hostilities from 1756 to 1763, which involved large
contingents of native partisans, the British won several
decisive victories, effectively demolishing French plans for
political control of the subcontinent. The most important
event of the war was Clive's victory at Plassey, which made
the British virtual masters of Bengal. By the terms of the
general peace settlement following the Seven Years' War,
French territory in India was reduced to a few trading
posts. See also Carnatic Wars.
East India Company
As a result of its victories, the East India Company had
acquired strategic political and territorial positions in
Bengal, the most populous province of India, and in
important areas of the Deccan. Consolidation and extension
of these gains characterized the subsequent policy of the
company, which retained its status as a private commercial
firm until 1773. In that year the East India Company became,
under the provisions of parliamentary legislation, a
semiofficial agency of the British government. The
application of British policy in India was facilitated by
the power vacuum that followed the Battle of Panìpat
(1761), when neither the Mughal Empire nor the Maratha
confederacy was strong enough to exercise authority.
Armed Resistance
In the pursuit of their objectives, the British relied
primarily on superior military power, but bribery,
extortion, and political manipulation of the native
chieftains were frequently and successfully employed.
Disunity among the various Indian kingdoms and
principalities paved the way for eventual British
subjugation of the entire subcontinent and contiguous
regions, notably Burma (now known as Myanmar). At sporadic
intervals, individual Indian states and groups of states
fiercely, but vainly, resisted the exploitation, brutality,
and territorial seizures by the company. The chief centers
of armed resistance to British rule included, at various
times, the Maratha confederacy, Mysore, Sind, and Punjab. In
1845 the Sikhs of Punjab attacked British positions,
starting a war that proved costly to both sides. The Sikhs
were defeated in 1846 but two years later they again engaged
the British in sanguinary fighting. In one battle, fought at
Chilianwala, the Sikhs inflicted nearly 2500 casualties on
the British. The latter won a decisive victory on February
21, 1849, however, and the Sikhs capitulated.
Dalhousie's Impact
Annexation of Punjab by the East India Company followed.
During the next few years James Andrew Broun Ramsay, 10th
Earl of Dalhousie, then governor-general of the company in
India, annexed, on the death of the native rulers, Satara,
Jaipur, Sambalpur, Jhansi, and Nagpur. He was able to do
this without war because of a British doctrine that declared
Great Britain's right to govern any Indian state where there
was no natural heir to the throne; the British government
had to give Hindu princes special permission to adopt a male
heir. Dalhousie's annexationist policy engendered profound
hostility among the Indian nobility and peoples. In many
material respects India benefited from various improvements
and reforms introduced by Dalhousie's administration.
Railroads, bridges, roads, and irrigation systems were
constructed; telegraph and postal services were established;
and restrictions were imposed on suttee, slave trading, and
other ancient practices. These innovations and reforms,
however, aroused little enthusiasm among the Indian people,
many of whom regarded the modernization of their country
with both fear and distrust. In 1856 Dalhousie annexed Oudh,
an act that added immeasurably to the widespread
discontent.
Sepoy Mutiny
As the unrest in India mounted, a large-scale
conspiratorial movement spread among the sepoys, the native
troops employed by the English East India Company. A general
uprising, known as the Sepoy Mutiny, began at Meerut, a town
near Delhi, on May 10, 1857. Rallying around the banner of
Bahadur Shah II, titular emperor of the moribund Mughal
Empire, the mutineers quickly occupied Delhi and other
strategic centers, massacred hundreds of Europeans, and, on
June 30, laid siege to the British residency at Lucknow. The
city was relieved in November and reinforcements of British
troops and loyal sepoys were rushed to the disaffected
areas. Fighting continued throughout the remainder of 1857
and into 1859 but by June 1858 the chief rebel strongholds
had fallen. In the same year, the judicial authorities of
the East India Company convicted Bahadur Shah II on charges
of rebellion and sentenced him to life imprisonment, thus
closing the final chapter of Mughal history. As one major
result of the Sepoy Mutiny, the British Parliament in 1858
enacted legislation, termed the Act for the Better
Government of India, which transferred the administration of
India from the East India Company to the British crown.
British India and Rising Nationalism
Many of the abuses prevalent in India during the rule of
the East India Company were eradicated or modified after the
British government assumed control of Indian affairs.
Important fiscal, governmental, juridical, educational, and
social reforms were instituted and the system of public
works inaugurated by Dalhousie was vastly extended. The
British government had inherited numerous difficult
problems, including the impoverished condition of the masses
of the Indian people, popular resentment over the country's
colonial status, and a growing spirit of nationalism.
Frequent disastrous famines, beginning with the Orissa
famine of 1866, which took the lives of 1.5 million people,
contributed substantially to political unrest. In 1876 the
British government, then headed by Benjamin Disraeli,
proclaimed Queen Victoria empress of India.
Political Ferment
In the closing years of the 19th century and during the
first decade of the 20th century, the social and political
ferment in India spread widely. Occidental political
doctrines and methods were introduced by Hindus who had
studied in British and American universities. Under the
stimulus of vigorous propaganda campaigns in the native
press, mass meetings, and secret political organizations,
Indian nationalism began to threaten seriously the British
position in India. A number of associations, dedicated to
the struggle against British rule, had been created in the
decades following the Sepoy Mutiny. Of these, the most
influential was the Indian National Congress, founded in
1885. This organization, which enlisted the support of many
prominent Hindus and Muslims, gradually heightened the
political consciousness of the masses and accelerated the
trend toward national unification. On the cultural level,
the celebrated poet and educator Rabindranath Tagore made
enduring contributions to the cause of Indian unity.
The Indian National Congress drew inspiration and
encouragement from the Japanese victory in the
Russo-Japanese War of 1904 and 1905, a practical
demonstration of the latent power of the Asian peoples.
Hostile manifestations against British rule became more and
more frequent, particularly in Bengal. The more radical
nationalists resorted to assassination, bombings, and other
acts of terrorism. Retaliatory measures by the colonial
authorities were countered by a popular boycott of British
goods.
Repressive Measures
Condemning most of the nationalist activities as
seditious, the British government adopted a special criminal
code to deal with the situation. Among other measures, this
code provided for trial without jury for people accused of
treason and for deportation or summary imprisonment for
agitators. These repressive steps were followed in 1909 by
the India Councils Act, which introduced a limited degree of
self-government in India. Dissatisfied with this concession
to Indian demands for independence, the nationalist movement
continued to gain headway.
A new and disruptive current had meanwhile been
introduced into the movement for national unification with
the formation in 1906 of the Muslim League. Established with
the encouragement of the British government and supported
primarily by those Muslims who, for reasons of
self-interest, loyalty to Great Britain, or Muslim
nationalism, were hostile to the objectives of the Indian
National Congress, the league succeeded in diverting
significant numbers of the Indian Muslim youth and
intelligentsia from the independence struggle. Many
outstanding Muslims, however, including the influential
journalist Abul Kalam Azad, registered disapproval of league
policy, resigned from the organization, and joined the
Indian National Congress.
Joint Campaign
Following the outbreak of World War I (1914-1918), large
numbers of the Indian people, including both Hindus and
Muslims, rallied to the British cause. More than 1.2 million
Indians participated in the British war effort, giving
valiant and loyal service in all theaters of the conflict.
The nationalist movement, generally quiescent during the
first two years of the war, resumed the campaign for
fundamental political reforms in the fall of 1916. The
campaign was initiated by a joint declaration of minimum
demands by the Indian National Congress and by the Muslim
League, which had been forced to abandon its pro-British
policy after Turkey, a Muslim country, entered the war on
the side of the Central Powers. There followed a policy of
pronouncement from the British government in August 1917,
promising an increase of "… the association of Indians
in every branch of the administration and the gradual
development of self-governing institutions … in
India…."
Gandhi's Protest
Movement
Political strife became intense in India after World War
I. In reply to the upsurge of nationalist activity, the
British government obtained passage of legislation, known as
the Rowlatt Acts, which suspended civil rights and provided
for martial law in areas disturbed by riots and uprisings.
Passage of the Rowlatt Acts precipitated a wave of violence
and disorder in many parts of India. In this period of
turmoil, Mohandas K. Gandhi, a Hindu social and religious
reformer, called on the Indian people to meet British
repression with passive resistance (Satyagraha). The protest
movement reached insurrectionary proportions on April 13,
1919, proclaimed by Gandhi as a day of national mourning. In
Amritsar, Punjab, city authorities, unable to cope with the
aroused citizenry, appealed to the military for aid. The
troops dispersed a huge assembly of people, freely using
their firearms and causing more than 400 casualties.
In consequence of the Amritsar Massacre, the
anti-British movement in India reached new levels of
intensity. The outstanding feature of this stage of the
struggle was the Gandhian policy of noncooperation
instituted in 1920. Among other things, the policy called
for the boycott of British commodities, courts, and
educational institutions; for noncooperation in political
life; and for the renunciation of British titles held by
Indians. The noncooperation movement was often attended by
violence, despite admonitions by Gandhi against the use of
force. Combined with parliamentary methods of struggle, the
movement proved to be a remarkably effective weapon in the
fight for Indian freedom. In the view of British
officialdom, the activities engaged in by Gandhi constituted
sedition, and the Indian leader was periodically imprisoned
or interned in the course of the next two decades. Gandhi,
known among the Indian people as Mahatma (Sanskrit for
"great soul"), figured decisively in Indian political
history.
Increasing Internal Dissension
Between 1922, the year of the initial imprisonment of
Gandhi for sedition, and 1942, when he was placed in custody
for the last time, the fight for Indian independence was
marked by serious setbacks, including the renewal of
dissension between Muslims and Hindus, and by many
victories.
Civil Disobedience
The tide of Indian nationalism, having acquired momentum
steadily since Gandhi was first arrested, attained a
climactic stage in the spring of 1930. On March 12 of that
year, following British rejection of demands for dominion
status for India, Gandhi announced that he would lead a mass
violation of the government salt monopoly. The violation was
accomplished, after a long march to the Gulf of Khambhat, by
boiling seawater to produce salt. Similar actions occurred
throughout India, and on May 5 Gandhi was again jailed by
the British authorities. Riots and demonstrations developed
immediately in Calcutta, Delhi, and other centers. Trains
were stoned, telegraph wires were cut, and various
government officials were assassinated. Striving to cope
with these and later disorders, the government carried out
wholesale arrests, and by November about 27,000 Indian
nationalists had been sentenced to prison terms.
Hindu-Muslim Schism
Finally, in March 1931, the British government arranged
a truce with Gandhi, who had been released in the preceding
January along with Jawaharlal Nehru, his closest associate
and the secretary of the Indian National Congress, and other
political prisoners. Meanwhile the Muslim League, professing
fears of Hindu domination, had advanced demands for special
privileges in the proposed dominion government. In the
course of the resultant controversy, bitter Hindu-Muslim
rioting ravaged many communities of India. Adding to the
misery and suffering occasioned by these outbursts, the
world economic crisis, which had begun in 1929, completely
disrupted the economy of India during the early 1930s.
Government of India Act
In 1935, following a series of conferences in London
between British and Indian leaders, legislation known as the
Government of India Act received the approval of the British
Parliament. The legislation provided for the establishment
of autonomous legislative bodies in the provinces of British
India, for the creation of a central government
representative of the provinces and princely states, and for
the protection of Muslim minorities. In addition, the act
provided for a bicameral national legislature and an
executive arm under the control of the British government.
Largely influenced by Gandhi, the Indian people approved the
measure, which became operative on April 1, 1937, although
many members of the Indian National Congress continued to
insist on full independence for India.
On the provincial level few difficulties developed in
the application of the Government of India Act. The plan for
federation proved unworkable for a variety of reasons,
however, including the reluctance of the Indian princes to
cooperate with the radicals of the Indian National Congress,
reciprocal hostility on the part of the latter, and Muslim
claims that the Hindus would have excessive influence in the
national legislature. As an alternative, the Muslim League,
then headed by Mohammed Ali Jinnah, advocated the creation
of an independent Muslim state (Pakistan). This proposal met
violent Hindu opposition. Further complicating the Indian
political situation, Subhas Chandra Bose, an extreme
nationalist, was elected president of the Indian National
Congress early in 1939. Within a few months, however, the
Congress rejected his policies and he resigned.
Wartime Agitation
On the outbreak of World War II (1939-1945) the viceroy
of India, Victor Alexander John Hope, Marquess of
Linlithgow, declared war on Germany in the name of India.
This step, taken in accordance with the constitution of 1937
but without consulting Indian leaders, alienated Gandhi and
important sections of the Indian National Congress.
Influential groups of the National Congress, supporting
Gandhi's position, intensified the campaign for immediate
self-government, naming self-government as their price for
cooperation in the war effort. At the end of October 1939
the ministries of eight provinces resigned in protest
against the adamant attitude of the British. The civil
disobedience campaign was resumed by the National Congress
in October 1940. Meanwhile the Muslim League, many of the
princely states, and certain members of the Indian National
Congress had endorsed the British war effort. The subsequent
contributions of India to the struggle against the Axis
powers were extensive. Indian troops at home and on the
fronts numbered about 1.5 million before the termination of
hostilities and Indian expenditures totaled approximately
$12 billion.
In December 1941 the British authorities in India
released the various Congress leaders who had been placed
under arrest in 1940. A new wave of anti-British agitation
followed, and in March 1942 the government of Great Britain
dispatched Sir Stafford Cripps, then lord privy seal, to
India with proposals designed to satisfy nationalist
demands. These proposals contained the promise of full
independence for India after World War II and called for the
establishment of an interim Indian government in which Great
Britain would retain control of national defense and foreign
affairs. Because the leaders of both the Indian National
Congress and the Muslim League had basic objections to
various sections of the proposed program, the Cripps mission
ended in failure.
The civil disobedience movement was again resumed in
August 1942. Gandhi, Nehru, and thousands of their
supporters were rounded up and imprisoned, and the National
Congress was outlawed. Encouraged by Indian disunity and
with the help of Bose, who had organized a "provisional
Indian government" in Burma (Myanmar), the Japanese promptly
intensified military operations along the Burmese-Indian
frontier. The Japanese invasion of India began along a
322-km (200-mi) front in March 1944. After a number of
initial successes, the invaders were gradually forced back
into Burma by Anglo-Indian troops.
The British government released Gandhi from jail on May
6, 1944. In the meantime the Indian leader had modified most
of his views regarding the nature of the war and the Cripps
program, and in September 1944 he and the Muslim leader
Jinnah began discussions on mutual differences. Primarily
because of Jinnah's insistence on demarcation of the
Pakistani frontiers prior to the formation of an interim
government, the discussions ended in failure.
Interim Government
In June 1945 India became a charter member of the United
Nations (UN). In the same month Nehru was released from
jail, and shortly thereafter the British government issued a
white paper on the Indian question. The proposals closely
resembled those of the Cripps program. Another deadlock
developed and during the second half of 1945 a new wave of
anti-British riots and outbursts swept over India. Three
representatives of the British government, including Cripps,
made another attempt to negotiate an agreement with Indian
leaders in the spring of 1946. Although the Muslim League
temporarily withdrew its demands for the partition of India
along religious lines, insuperable differences developed
with respect to the character of an interim government. The
negotiations were fruitless, and in June the British viceroy
Archibald Wavell announced the formation of an emergency
"caretaker" government. An interim executive council, headed
by Nehru and representative of all major political groups
except the Muslim League, replaced this government in
September. In the next month the Muslim League agreed to
participate in the new government. Nonetheless, communal
strife between Muslims and Hindus increased in various parts
of India.
By the end of 1946 the Indian political situation verged
on anarchy. The British prime minister Clement R. Attlee
announced in February 1947 that his government would
relinquish power in India not later than June 30, 1948.
According to the announcement, the move would be made
whether or not the political factions of India agreed on a
constitution before that time. Political tension mounted in
India following the announcement, creating grave
possibilities of a disastrous Hindu-Muslim civil war. After
consultations with Indian leaders, Louis Mountbatten, who
succeeded Wavell as viceroy in March 1947, recommended
immediate partition of India to the British government as
the only means of averting catastrophe. A bill incorporating
Mountbatten's recommendations was introduced into the
British Parliament on July 4; it obtained speedy and
unanimous approval in both houses of Parliament.
Indian Independence Act
Under the provisions of this enactment, termed the
Indian Independence Act, which became effective on August
15, 1947, India and Pakistan were established as independent
dominions of the Commonwealth of Nations, with the right to
withdraw from or remain within the Commonwealth. The Indian
government, by the terms of a declaration issued jointly by
the then eight members of the Commonwealth on April 28,
1949, elected to retain its membership. For the subsequent
history of Pakistan, see Pakistan: History.
The new states of India and Pakistan were created along
religious lines. Areas inhabited predominantly by Hindus
were allocated to India and those with a predominantly
Muslim population were allocated to Pakistan. Because the
overwhelming majority of the people of the Indian
subcontinent are Hindus, partition resulted in the inclusion
within the Union of India, as the country was then named, of
most of the 562 princely states in existence prior to August
15, 1947, as well as the majority of the British provinces
and parts of 3 of the remaining provinces.
By the terms of the Indian Independence Act,
governmental authority in the Union was vested in the
Constituent Assembly, originally an all-India body created
for the purpose of drafting a constitution for the entire
nation. The All-India Constituent Assembly, which held its
first session in December 1946, was boycotted by the
delegates of the Muslim League, the major political
organization of Muslim nationalists; the remaining
delegates, who were chiefly representative of the Indian
National Congress, the corresponding Hindu organization,
formed the Constituent Assembly of the Indian Union.
After the transfer of power from the British government,
the Constituent Assembly assigned executive responsibility
to a cabinet, with Nehru as prime minister. Mountbatten
became governor-general of the new dominion.
Continued Hindu-Muslim-Sikh Antagonisms
The termination of British rule in India was greeted
enthusiastically by Indians of every religious faith and
political persuasion. On August 15, 1947, officially
designated Indian Independence Day, celebration ceremonies
were held in all parts of the subcontinent and in Indian
communities abroad. These ceremonies took place, however,
against an ominous background of Hindu-Muslim and
Sikh-Muslim antagonisms, which were particularly acute in
regions equally or almost equally shared by members of the
different faiths.
Population Shifts
In anticipation of border disputes in such regions,
notably Bengal and Punjab, a boundary commission with a
neutral (British) chairperson was established prior to
partition. The recommendations of this commission occasioned
little active disagreement with respect to the division of
Bengal. In that region, largely because of Gandhi's
moderating influence, little communal strife developed. In
the Punjab, however, where the line of demarcation brought
nearly 2 million Sikhs, traditionally anti-Muslim, under the
jurisdiction of Pakistan, the decisions of the boundary
commission precipitated bitter fighting. A mass exodus of
Muslims from Union territory into Pakistan and of Sikhs and
Hindus from Pakistan into Union territory took place. In the
course of the initial migrations, which involved more than 4
million people in the month of September 1947 alone, convoys
of refugees were frequently attacked and massacred by
fanatical partisans. Coreligionists of the victims resorted
to reprisals against minorities in other sections of the
Union and Pakistan. Indian and Pakistani authorities brought
the strife under control during October, but the shift of
populations in the Punjab and other border areas continued
until the end of the year. Relations between the two states
grew worse in October when the Indian armed forces
surrounded Junagadh, a princely state on the Kathiawar
Peninsula. This action was taken because the nawab of the
state, which had a large majority of Hindus, had previously
announced that he would affiliate with Pakistan. The Indian
military authorities subsequently assumed control of the
state, pending a plebiscite.
War in Kashmìr
Kashmìr, a princely state inhabited predominantly
by Muslims, became the next major source of friction between
India and Pakistan. Here, the situation was the exact
opposite of that in Junagadh. On October 24, 1947, Muslim
insurgents, supported by invading coreligionists from the
North-West Frontier Province, proclaimed establishment of a
"Provisional Government of Kashmìr." Three days later
the Hindu leader Hari Singh, Maharaja of Kashmìr,
announced the accession of Kashmìr to the Union of
India. Approving the maharaja's decision and promising a
plebiscite after the restoration of peace, the Indian
government immediately dispatched troops to Srìnagar,
the capital of Kashmìr and the major objective of the
insurgents. Hostilities quickly attained serious
proportions, and at New Year 1948 the Indian government
filed a formal complaint with the UN Security Council,
accusing Pakistan of giving help to the Muslim
insurgents.
Despite repeated attempts by the Security Council to
obtain a truce in the troubled area, fighting continued
throughout 1948. The peacemaking efforts of the Security
Council finally met with success at New Year 1949, when both
India and Pakistan accepted proposals for a plebiscite,
under the auspices of the UN, on the political future of
Kashmìr. Cease-fire orders were issued by the two
governments on the same day. Among other things, the UN plan
provided for the withdrawal of combat troops from the state,
for the return of refugees desirous of participating in the
plebiscite, and for a free and impartial vote under the
direction of a "personality of high international standing."
In March UN Secretary-General Trygve Lie appointed U.S.
Admiral Chester W. Nimitz administrator of the
Kashmìr plebiscite, scheduled for later in 1949.
Meanwhile both the Union of India and Pakistan had
suffered the loss of outstanding leaders and the Indian
government had become embroiled in a dispute with the nizam
of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan Bahadur. Gandhi was
assassinated by a Hindu fanatic on January 30, 1948, and
Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, died the following
September. The tension between the Indian government and
Hyderabad, inhabited preponderantly by Hindus, resulted from
the reluctance of the nizam, a Muslim, to bring his state
into the Union. Protracted negotiations for a peaceful
solution of the dispute ended in failure and on September 17
Indian forces occupied Hyderabad, the capital city, ending
the nizam's resistance. The ruler subsequently signed
instruments of accession making Hyderabad part of the Union
of India.
Although India and Pakistan agreed (July 1949) on a line
demarcating their respective zones of occupation in
Kashmìr, the two nations were unable to reconcile
basic differences on the terms of the proposed plebiscite.
The deadlock was primarily due to Indian insistence that
Pakistani troops be withdrawn from the disputed territory
before the plebiscite and to Pakistan's refusal to withdraw
its troops unless the Indians also withdrew theirs.
First Years as a Republic
The Indian Constituent Assembly approved a republican
constitution for the Union on November 26, 1949. Comprising
a preamble, 395 articles, and 8 schedules, the document
proved to be more voluminous than any body of organic law in
existence. One of the constitution's features is a clause
outlawing untouchability, the ancient practice of caste that
condemned about 40 million Hindus to social and economic
degradation. The Gandhi disciple and All-India Congress
leader Rajendra Prasad was elected first president of the
republic in January 1950. As provided by the constitution,
the republic was formally proclaimed on January 26. The
Constituent Assembly then reconstituted itself as a
provisional parliament and Jawaharlal Nehru was elected
prime minister.
Nonalignment
During its first year as a republic India figured
increasingly in international affairs, especially in
deliberations and activities of the United Nations. Nehru's
government, adhering to policies developed in the
prerepublican period, maintained a generally neutral
position with respect to the so-called Cold War, the
mounting ideological and political struggle between the
Soviet bloc of states and the Western democracies. Indian
determination to avoid entanglement with either of these
powers became increasingly apparent following the outbreak
of the Korean War in June 1950. Subsequently the Indian
government approved the UN Security Council resolution
invoking military sanctions against North Korea. No Indian
troops were committed to the UN cause, however, and
beginning in July, when Nehru dispatched notes on the Korean
situation to the United States and the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics (USSR), India sought repeatedly to
restore peace in the Far East. In its initial attempts at
mediation the Indian government suggested that admission of
the Chinese People's Republic to the United Nations was
prerequisite to a solution of the Far Eastern crisis. Even
after the Chinese intervention in the Korean War and despite
Indian-Chinese differences over Tibet, India adhered to this
view but it was rejected by a majority of the Security
Council. In October 1950, after a Chinese army invaded
Tibet, the Indian government dispatched a note to China
expressing "surprise and regret."
Foreign Aid
Outstanding among domestic events during the first year
of republican rule was a series of natural disasters,
notably an extended drought in southern India and severe
earthquakes and floods in Assam. About 6 million tons of
grain and other foodstuffs were lost, according to an
official estimate made in November. During the resultant
famine, large sections of the population were forced to
subsist on a daily ration of 57 g (2 oz) of rice. India
appealed to the United States in December 1950 for $200
million worth of food. In February 1951 U.S. President Harry
S. Truman asked Congress to enact legislation providing 2
million tons of grain for Indian relief. Considerable
opposition to the request developed in Congress, primarily
because of Indian policy on the Korean War. Indian
restrictions on the export of certain strategic materials
also provoked congressional opposition to the relief
measure. Nehru declared that India would refuse to accept
relief "with political strings attached," and in June 1951
the U.S. Congress finally approved a $190-million relief
loan to be repaid on terms that were acceptable to the
Indian government.
Domestic Policies
The following month Nehru announced that the government
must encourage birth control in order to cope with the
problem of a rapidly growing population and a food supply
rendered inadequate by rudimentary agricultural methods and
frequent natural disasters. Shortly afterward the government
promulgated a five-year national development plan providing
for expenditures of $3.8 billion, largely on irrigation and
hydroelectric projects.
The results of the first general elections in the Indian
Republic were announced March 1, 1952. Based on universal
suffrage, the balloting had begun in October 1951 and ended
in February 1952. The Indian National Congress, the party in
power, won 364 of 489 contested seats in the national
legislature and was victorious in all but 2 of the
constituent states. In May the newly constituted electoral
college elected President Rajendra Prasad to the presidency
for a full five-year term.
International Affairs
In June 1952 India, which had boycotted the 1951
Japanese peace conference, signed a bilateral peace treaty
with Japan. Among the provisions was a waiver of all
reparations claims. During September the Indian government
accepted famine-relief food shipments from the People's
Republic of China and the Soviet Union but only after both
countries agreed to Indian stipulations against possible
"political strings."
Korea and Kashmìr
India figures significantly in international
developments during 1953. An Indian general was named to
chair the Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission provided
for by the Korean armistice agreement of July 27. In this
position, he perpetuated the Indian policy of neutrality,
provoking accusations of partiality from both the UN and
Communist commands. The issue of Indian participation in the
projected Korean peace conference was decided in August when
the UN General Assembly voted down a British-backed
resolution inviting India to the conference. Subsequently,
the U.S. secretary of state, John Foster Dulles, termed
Indian exclusion from the proposed peace parley the "price"
of neutrality. Indian-Pakistani talks on plebiscite
arrangements for Kashmìr were terminated in December
1953 over disagreement on the number and composition of
troops to be stationed there during the voting. The
Kashmìr Constituent Assembly unanimously approved
accession to the Indian Republic early in February
1954.
Indochina
The prime ministers of India, Pakistan, Burma,
Indonesia, and Sri Lanka conferred in Sri Lanka from April
28 to May 2, 1954. Among other actions, the leaders adopted
a declaration of support for the Geneva Conference on Far
Eastern Affairs, then about to convene. (The conference was
called, in the face of an imminent French defeat, to discuss
an end to the war in Indochina.) Nehru held a series of
meetings late in June with Premier Zhou Enlai of China, who
was a delegate to the Geneva Conference; they issued a joint
statement urging a political settlement. Under the
provisions of the Indochinese cease-fire agreements in July
of that year, India chaired the three-power International
Commission established to supervise application of the
agreements.
Bandung Conference
India participated in the Asian-African Conference, a
meeting in April 1955 of 22 Asian and 7 African states, held
in Bandung, Indonesia. In June Nehru spent two weeks in the
USSR. At the conclusion of the visit he and Soviet Premier
Nikolay A. Bulganin issued a joint statement appealing for a
ban on nuclear weapons, for disarmament, for "wider
application" of the principles of coexistence, and for
recognition of the "legitimate rights" of Taiwan of the
People's Republic of China.
Indian-Portuguese relations had worsened steadily in
1954 because of insistent demands by Indian nationalists
that Portugal vacate Goa and the rest of Portuguese India.
In August 1955 Portuguese security forces fired on a group
of Indian demonstrators that crossed the Goan border. India
then severed diplomatic ties with Portugal.
Suez and Hungary
In July 1956 Nehru conferred with President Tito of
Yugoslavia and President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt. The
three leaders later issued a joint communqué
affirming their opposition to colonialism and their belief
in a worldwide system of collective security. During the
crises following Egypt's seizure of the Suez Canal on July
26 and the subsequent invasion of Egypt by Israel, France,
and Great Britain, India made numerous attempts to reconcile
the various disaffected nations. Throughout both crises the
Indian minister without portfolio V. K. Krishna Menon
conferred frequently with representatives of both sides. At
the same time India was widely criticized for its failure to
support a UN resolution of November 5, 1956, condemning the
USSR for its use of force against anti-Soviet rebels in
Hungary. Later that month, however, Nehru, who previously
had characterized the anti-Soviet uprising as a civil war,
reversed himself by denouncing the Soviet occupation of
Hungary.
Internal Affairs
On January 26, 1957, India declared the state of
Kashmìr to be an integral part of the Indian
Republic, following decisions to that effect by the
Kashmìr Constituent Assembly. Protest riots and
burnings of effigies of Nehru subsequently took place in
Pakistan, which lodged a vigorous complaint in the UN. In
national elections held in February and March 1957 the
Congress Party won 366 of 494 seats in the lower house of
parliament; the Communists won 29 seats to become the
largest opposition party and also gained control of the
state of Kerala. Prime Minister Nehru and President Prasad
retained their positions. In March a decimal system of
currency was introduced.
In Kerala efforts to increase government control of
private schools aroused mass opposition, manifested by
frequent antigovernment demonstrations during 1958. To
uphold law and order, Prasad took over the functions of the
Kerala government in July 1959. Legislative elections in the
state in February 1960 resulted in substantial gains for the
anti-Communist parties.
In May 1960 the state of Bombay was divided into the
states of Maharashtra and Gujarat. To placate rebellious
Naga tribes, Nehru announced that a new state of Nagaland,
populated predominantly by the tribes, would be created out
of the state of Assam. Subsequently elements of the Sikh
population agitated for creation of a separate Sikh state
out of part of the Punjab. The matter was settled in 1966 by
the formation of the new state of Haryana.
The third Indian five-year plan of economic development
was inaugurated in April 1961; its cost was estimated at
$24.36 billion and its objective was to increase the average
annual per-capita income from $69.30 to $80.85. A long-range
goal was to make India independent of foreign aid by 1976.
In August the United States disclosed that to date it had
committed $4 billion to India.
Clashes with Neighbors
During the Tibetan revolt in March 1959 some 9000
Tibetan refugees sought political asylum in India;
thereafter several border clashes occurred between Chinese
and Indian troops and in August Indian territory was
penetrated by Chinese troops. A conference to settle the
dispute, in April 1960, attended by Nehru and Zhou Enlai,
ended in a deadlock.
Following charges of Portuguese aggression, Indian
forces on December 18, 1961, invaded and annexed the
remaining Portuguese enclaves on the subcontinent: Goa,
Daman, and Diu. The next day a resolution was brought before
the UN Security Council condemning India as an aggressor; it
failed to be adopted because of a Soviet veto.
During 1962 the border dispute between China and India
grew increasingly tense. Early in the year both countries
added outposts along the contested frontier territory in the
high Himalayas, and in October the Chinese attacked and
overran Indian outposts on both western and eastern parts of
the border. The Indians, ill-prepared and particularly
ill-equipped for high-elevation fighting, were unable to
halt the Chinese advance, which ended when Beijing
unilaterally announced a cease-fire in late November. The
crisis precipitated a drastic overhaul of Indian defenses,
and Defense Minister V. K. Krishna Menon, a powerful
neutralist, was ousted from the government at the end of
October.
On May 27, 1964, Nehru, who had served as prime minister
since India attained its independence, died. He was
succeeded by Lal Bahadur Shastri, formerly home minister.
Pakistan continued to challenge India's claim to the
predominantly Muslim state of Kashmìr, where in
August 1965 incidents involving Pakistani guerrillas and
Indian troops precipitated an undeclared war between
Pakistan and India. Hostilities continued through a
UN-arranged cease-fire and the situation remained tense
until Soviet-mediated negotiations between Shastri and
Pakistani President Muhammad Ayub Khan, resulted on January
10, 1966, in a troop-withdrawal agreement.
New Leadership
A few hours after signing the agreement in Toshkent,
USSR, Shastri died of a heart attack. Nehru's daughter
Indira Gandhi, a former minister of information, was chosen
to be the new prime minister.
In 1969 Prime Minister Gandhi faced a revolt by the
conservative wing of the Congress Party but won an
impressive victory when, with her support, the former vice
president, Varahagiri Venkata Giri, defeated the official
Congress candidate for president. Consolidating her
strength, Gandhi and her faction, from that time called the
New Congress Party, won a major victory in the elections of
March 1971.
Later that month, civil war erupted in Pakistan, as the
national government, dominated by West Pakistanis, moved to
suppress Bengali efforts to achieve autonomy for East
Pakistan. As millions of Bengali refugees streamed across
the border into India, relations between India and Pakistan
worsened. In December India invaded East Pakistan, compelled
the surrender of Pakistani forces there, and recognized the
new nation of Bangladesh. Most of the Bengali refugees were
subsequently repatriated.
Economic conditions in India worsened during the
mid-1970s. As unemployment mounted, food riots broke out,
and accusations of government corruption intensified. To
world surprise, India exploded its first nuclear device on
May 18, 1974. A parliamentary effort to topple the Gandhi
government was turned back in July, and in the following
month a candidate backed by Gandhi, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed,
was elected as president. Early in 1975 India annexed
Sikkim, which then became the 22nd state of the
republic.
Gandhi was convicted in June 1975 of corrupt practices
during the 1971 election campaign. Faced with the loss of
her parliamentary seat, she had a national state of
emergency declared. She centralized power in her own hands
and implemented strong measures to foster economic
development and lower the national birth rate. Increasingly,
she relied on her son, Sanjay Gandhi. Political opposition
was quelled by mass imprisonment and press censorship.
Janata Government
In early 1977, however, Gandhi called a general
election, hoping to be able to demonstrate popular support.
Instead, she lost her seat in parliament and the Congress
Party failed to win a majority in the legislature for the
first time since 1952. The Janata Party, a coalition formed
to oppose her regime, won about half the seats in parliament
and its head, Morarji R. Desai, was named prime minister.
The emergency was ended, and repressive actions of the
Gandhi government were reversed. In January 1978 Gandhi
formed Congress-I (I for "Indira") to rival the Congress
Party. It soon won elections in the south and in
Maharashtra, and in April it was named the main opposition
party in the House of the People.
Gandhi Returns
In 1979, after more than two years in power, the Janata
government had lost its parliamentary majority and Desai
resigned. Elections in January 1980 resulted in a major
victory for Gandhi and her Congress-I Party; she resumed the
office of prime minister on January 14. On June 23 Sanjay,
who had emerged from the elections as a major political
force, was killed in a plane crash. His seat in parliament
was taken by his brother, Rajiv Gandhi, Gandhi's chosen
successor.
To appease Sikhs demanding autonomy for Punjab, where
they are a majority, Indira Gandhi supported the
presidential candidacy of Zail Singh, who in July 1982
became India's first Sikh chief of state. Autonomist
agitation continued, however, and in October 1983 Gandhi
brought Punjab under president's rule, giving police
emergency powers.
The center of Sikh resistance was also the religion's
holiest shrine, the Golden Temple at Amritsar. On June 2,
1984, the temple was sealed off by Indian troops, who then
occupied the shrine, killing hundreds of Sikhs and seizing
caches of ammunition. The troops withdrew by the end of the
month, but outrage among Sikh nationalists persisted. On
October 31 Indira Gandhi was shot and killed by Sikh members
of her personal guard. In the days of rioting that followed,
at least 1000 Sikhs were killed by Hindu mobs. Rajiv Gandhi
was sworn in as prime minister hours after his mother's
death.
Rajiv Gandhi faced another crisis on December 3, when a
leak of methyl isocyanate gas from a Union Carbide pesticide
plant at Bhopal, in central India, resulted in the deaths of
at least 3300 people and in the illness of more than 20,000
others. With his leadership reaffirmed by the parliamentary
elections in December 1984, Gandhi responded to unrest among
the Sikhs by agreeing to expand the boundaries of
Punjab.
Early in 1987 Indian troops were sent to Sri Lanka to
help suppress a rebellion by Tamil guerrillas. A peace
agreement was signed in July, but violent clashes continued.
Also in July the election of Ramaswami Venkataraman as
president seemed to consolidate Gandhi's position.
Allegations of corruption and mismanagement weakened the
Congress-I Party, however, as did Gandhi's inability to deal
effectively with autonomist pressures in Punjab and
Kashmìr. In the elections of November 1989,
Congress-I lost its parliamentary majority, and Vishwanath
Pratap Singh, leader of the Janata Dal Party, became prime
minister. In 1990, a split within Singh's own party led to
the collapse of his minority government; he was succeeded by
his chief rival, Chandra Shekhar, whose government stepped
down in March 1991, paving the way for new elections. During
the election campaign, Rajiv Gandhi was killed by a Tamil
suicide bomber. Outraged voters gave Congress-I a plurality
in parliament, and P. V. Narasimha Rao, former foreign
minister and a Gandhi supporter, became prime minister.
Recent Developments
In January 1993 Rao's authority was undermined by
nationwide riots that followed the destruction of a
16th-century mosque by Hindu militants, who claimed the site
originally belonged to a Hindu temple. Nearly 3000 people
throughout India died in the ensuing six weeks of sectarian
violence. In September 1993 a devastating earthquake shook
central India about 320 km (about 200 mi) west of Hyderabad.
It killed about 10,000 people and destroyed dozens of
villages.
During the early 1990s tensions between India and
Pakistan increased over control of the Jammu and
Kashmìr region. Since 1989 the Indian-controlled
portion has been the site of sporadic armed conflict between
the Indian army and militant Muslim separatists, who either
want to form an independent state, or unite with
predominantly Muslim Pakistan. In January 1994 India and
Pakistan held talks concerning the disputed region, but no
real progress was made. Pakistan closed its consulate in
Bombay in March and had the Indian consulate in Karachi
closed in December. In January 1995 India rejected
Pakistan's preconditions for the resumption of bilateral
talks, which included a reduction in the number of Indian
troops stationed in Kashmìr. Since Pakistan was
pursuing a nuclear weapons development program, many
countries feared that the dispute over Kashmìr could
escalate into a nuclear conflict. In July 1995 a
pro-separatist group called Al Faran kidnapped six tourists
who were traveling in Kashmìr. One tourist escaped
within a few days, and another was killed by Al Faran; an
American, a German, and two British men remained in
captivity, their fates unknown, nearly a year later.
The 1996 elections brought unrest to India and concern
on the part of foreign investors. The Indian government had
to force the people of Jammu and Kashmìr to vote
because of boycotting on the part of pro-separatist groups.
In protest of the elections in Jammu and Kashmìr,
terrorist incidents such as the bombing of city buses
occurred in New Delhi. In the rest of the country the
elections took the majority of seats from the Congress-I
Party and forced Rao to resign as prime minister. The Hindu
national party, Bharatiya Janata, won the most seats in
parliament, but failed to win the majority. Still Bharatiya
Janata, with the invitation of the president, formed a
government under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. After
13 days Vajpayee resigned when it became clear that he would
not pass a confidence vote by the parliament. The leftist
coalition United Front, which had the second highest number
of parliamentary seats, formed a government under Prime
Minister H. D. Deve Gowda with the help of the Congress-I
Party and several smaller regional parties. Gowda won a
parliamentary vote of confidence in June 1996. Speculation
about India's stability was reduced with the news that Gowda
planned to continue market reforms and resume talks with
Pakistan concerning the control of Jammu and
Kashmìr.
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