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 Nehruvian 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, Centred 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 Lal Bahadur 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 > 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
Posted on: Mon, 26 Aug 2013 12:18:18 +0000
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