Socialism in India

It's not surprising, if a bit unsettling to some, that many of the freedom fighters got attracted to the lure of socialist ideas for nation building while dreaming for an independent India. Socialism was like the Spirit of the Age in pre-independence India. It was Karl Marx, the father of communism, who inspired many Indians through his writings during the Russian Revolution.

Bal Gangadher Tilak was among the first Indian freedom fighters to praise Marx's philosophy and the Russian communist revolutionary Lenin. Subhash Chandra Bose, the fascist leader of the Indian National Army, had inclinations towards authoritarian means for creating a socialist nation. He thought of Soviet Union as a role-model-nation for India and believed (post WW II) that democracy would not work in a country like India. He had major disagreements with Gandhi's non-violent methods for attaining independence, and was an advocate for a violent resistance. [He was elected as the president of Indian National Congress for two consecutive terms, but resigned because of his ideological differences with the Mahatma.]

Another revolutionary, Bhagat Singh, was also attracted to the Marxist principles of revolutionary Communism. After becoming the leader of Hindustan Republican Association, he changed its name to Hindustan Socialist Republican Association in 1928. Like Netaji, he also believed that a vast and diverse country like India could survive only under a socialist government. He wrote in his letter to the Governor of Punjab “Till Communist Party comes to power and people live without unequal status, our struggle will continue. It cannot be brought to an end by killing us: it will continue openly as well as secretly.” 

In the famous statement on June 6, 1929, Bhagat Singh said, “The whole edifice of this civilization, if not saved in time, shall crumble. A radical change, therefore, is necessary and it is the duty of those who realise it to reorganise society on the socialistic basis. Unless this thing is done and the exploitation of man by man and of nations by nations is brought to an end, sufferings and carnage with which humanity is threatened today cannot be prevented.” [source] 

On the other end of the political spectrum of pre-independence India, the Indian National Congress also believed in the socialist idea and set it as a goal for free India. Nehru, the first prime minister of independent India adopted socialist practices for industrial and economic development as well as for social reforms in India. While many argue today that the liberalization should have taken place as early as the 70's (as opposed to the 90's), it remains a topic of debate whether implementing free market economy right after freedom could have been a wise alternative to 'centralized planning'.

The National Planning Committee (NPC), which was set up in 1938, was in charge of deciding economic policy for India that was soon to be free. The NPC took lessons from Russia and Japan where state intervention was needed and helped tremendously to annul the effects of late industrialization. This 'late industrialization' effect was even more prevalent in India which had been under colonial rule for over 200 years. So the NPC suggested "service before profit" policy, and notably the private sector agreed with this strategy.  In 1944, a group of leading industrialists published A Plan for Economic Development for India (which was later known as the Bombay Plan), in which they expressed the need for state intervention especially in  energy, transportation and infrastructure. These capitalists concurred that, positive and preventive functions of the state are essential to any large scale economic planning in the early stage of industrialization. 

During the Emergency of 1976, the word socialist was added to the preamble of the Constitution of India:

WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, 

having solemnly resolved to constitute India into 

a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens:

JUSTICE, social, economic and political;

LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;

EQUALITY of status and of opportunity;

and to promote among them all

FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation; [link]

(Emphasis is mine.)

Even after India has shredded off its socialist ideals in 1991, when the prime minister Narsimha Rao and the finance minister Manmohan Singh, introduced economic liberalization which spurted a tremendous economic growth in last couple of decades, India continues to be described a socialist republic in the preamble to the constitution! [Several months ago, the SC surprisingly refused to entertain a petition which urged to remove the word socialist from the preamble.]

The Last Mughal

The Last Mughal is yet another laboriously researched and wonderfully written book by William Dalrymple. William is an Indophile, who previously authored two excellent books: The City of Djinns and White Mughals. He is fascinated by the old city Delhi and all his three books reveal quite intriguing, obscure and forgotten details about the city that served as the capital for two of the biggest empires that ruled India - the Mughals and the British. The city was also the primary center of the Great Mutiny of 1857.

What's most interesting to me in this book is the first-person accounts of what happened on the streets of Delhi ere, during and after the Uprising. Utter chaos took over the city as the mutineers started looting around (the members of the wealthy class being their first target). As the situation grew worse after people realized Zafar's inability to stop the havoc, many seized this opportunity to settle old scores and satiate their lust. After Delhi fell under British attack, hell broke loose when the revengeful army officers went on a killing rampage. "The punishment for mutiny is death." was their motto, but they didn't even spare the lives of innocent civilians who were mere observers (albeit most wished for british defeat). During the Uprising, the mutineers had violently massacred numerous British officials and civil servants not sparing the lives of their wives and children. This created a strong desire for vengeance among the victorious army officials. The army rummaged and plundered houses and havelis in search of any valuables they could find. The violence rumbled on for weeks and the city was deserted after many were killed and those who were alive fled the city. Delhi became a necropolis.

William Dalrymple intensively researched previously undiscovered sources like the Mutiny Papers, the National Archives of India, Delhi Commissioner's Office Archives, Delhi's principal newspapers of that time (Dilhi Urdu Akhbar, Siraj ul-Akhbar, Delhi Gazette &c), National Archives of Rangoon (where Zafar spent his final days as a British State Prisoner). We read letters written by British officials to their wives and siblings that often oscillate between emotional outbursts (on seeing poor civilians being killed inhumanly) and brave proclamations (for being able to take revenge for the innocent British families that were butchered by mutineers). There are excerpts from diaries written by Englishwomen, army officers as well as celebrated Delhi personalities like Ghalib (the famous poet who was a member of Zafar's durbar). All together, this creates a throbbing picture of the indescribable cruelties that took place in Delhi. The letters, editorials from newspapers, government documents - all are very subjective accounts, but you have to appreciate William Dalrymple who tries to be as objective as possible and gives us information from both sides: British and Indian, both of which played the roles of 'the cruel' and 'the victims'.  

Bahadur Shah (II) Zafar's precarious and helpless position at the dawn of the Mutiny and also after their defeat is explored in this book as never before. By 1857, the Mughal dynasty was on a steep decline and the British Company, of whom Zafar himself was a pensioner, was already on the rise. When the mutineer army from Meerut came to Zafar to get his blessing, the enfeebled 82 year old king had no other option but to give in to their rather forceful demands and hesitantly declare support for the Uprising. This finally led to his imprisonment after Delhi fell to British army, and the British court charged Zafar with "rebellion, treason and murder" in a trial that lasted more than 8 months. The primary contributor to the defeat of mutineers seem to be the lack of central authority, which Zafar was supposed to be providing. But the octogenarian, who was a sufi poet by heart, could do very little except expressing his dismay at the looting of the city residents by mutineers and their arrogant disrespectful behavior to the emperor himself. "The king was like the king on the chessboard after checkmate." Above is a photograph (perhaps the only one) of the Last Mughal taken after the his trial in 1858.

Bahadur Shah II Zafar, the last Mughal King, the descendent of the great world-conquerers Chengiz Khan and Timur, died quietly without any fuss, as a British State Prisoner in Rangoon in 1862. A week after his death the British Commissioner Captain Davis wrote to London to report what has passed, adding:

The death of the ex-King may be said to have had no effect on the Mahomedan part of the populace of Rangoon, except perhaps for a few fanatics who watch and pray for the final triumph  of Islam. A bamboo fence surrounds the grave for some considerable distance, and by the time the fence is worn out, the grass will again have properly covered the spot, and no vestige will remain to distinguish where the last of the Great Moghuls rests.

Few factoids from the book: 

• The mutineers were called "Pandees" in Colonial British slang. The name derived from, as you might have guessed, Mangal Pandey who was the first sepoy to rise against the Company. And "Tommies" was a generic slang for a british soldier at that time.  
• Although they are commonly believed to be written by Zafar, it's unclear if he really penned the fantastic and rather melancholic ghazals (1) "Na Kisi Ki Aankh Ka Noor Hoon" and (2) "Lagta Naheen Hai Dil Mera" (both wonderfully sung by Mohammed Rafi in movie Lal Qila). 
• Zafar, the pen-name of Bahadur Shah II,  means "Victory", which is quite ironic since he is widely perceived as a "loser" and associated with one of the greatest defeats in Indian subcontinent.
• Ghalib was among the few Muslim survivors left in the city. In his muhalla, Ballimaran, also lived some senior courtiers  of the British loyalist Maharaja of Patiala, who sent troops and supplies to British army during the Siege. Because of this, the Britishers did not raid Ballimaran and Ghalib escaped the massacre.
• The Sikhs were keen recruits in the British army. They fought two vicious wars with the British but this was probably outweighed by the hatred on the Mughals who martyred two of their greatest gurus - Guru Arjan Dev and Guru Tegh Bahadur. 

Love to hate Nehru

Another forwarded e-mail. And this one really grinds my gears! The e-mail is titled "Look at this idiot", which is directed to India's first prime minister Nehru. And it has the above picture as an attachment. There are also some disparaging remarks about Nehru in the e-mail.

First of all, I don't see anything wrong with this picture. And I fail to see how this makes him an "idiot". 

But this is nothing new. It has almost become a fashion to criticize Nehru (and Gandhi) nowadays. Many proclamations are based on mere speculations and allegations (often driven by political motives). But what really boils my blood is when the allegations moves from policies to personalities. You may disagree with Nehru's ideas and policies, but questioning his integrity as the prime minister of India and doubting his compassion to create a great democratic and secular India is, I think, quite preposterous.

Yes, he made some bad decisions as a prime minister. His under-estimation of the China threat, manhandling of the Kashmir issue and distrusting businessmen as a class, are among his prime failures as a prime minister. If we look into his personal life, there are many things to criticize too. He mistreated his wife, and he was almost an absent father. Apart from that, the allegation that his relationship with Edwina influenced his policies as a prime ministers is, well, allegation at its best and cheap-shot at its worst. [link] 

But one can hardly argue against his vigorous pursuit for economic and social development in pre and post independent India. When we refer to the biggest democracy in the world, it's difficult not to give this man some credit  who held the flag of democracy democratically  for 17 years.

But still, we Indians, love to hate Nehru. It's his failures that interest us more (as they are easy to comprehend), not his achievements (which are difficult to grasp for a common man).

In his fascinating essay Ramachandra Guha calls Nehru and Gandhi "Shock Absorbers". He points out how we Indians are quite lenient and often eloquent when it comes to criticizing Gandhi and/or Nehru. But for other leaders of the yore, like Ambedkar, Golwarkar, Shivaji, Bose and Tagore, the tolerance bar is set quite low (by specific communal or regional groups). The pride of Ambedkar is protected vehemently by Dalits, the Maharashtrians demand total reverence to Shivaji, Golwarkar (and Savarkar), the Bengalis can not take a slight criticism of their favorite leaders: Bose and Tagore. Most of these protests are on sectarian, communal or regional level.  

 

Guha asks the question "Why this taboo on criticizing, on the basis of solid historical evidence, Bose in Bengal, Savarkar in front of radical Hindus, Ambedkar in a Dalit meeting, or Indira Gandhi in the vicinity of 10, Janpath? [and why do we have license to say anything we want about Nehru and Gandhi?]". And his answer (below) makes a lot of sense to me:

One reason we are free to dump on Gandhi and Nehru is that neither is, was or ever will be a sectarian leader. Despite the best efforts of the Muslim League, many Muslims, among them such devout ones as Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, stayed with Gandhi. Despite the criticisms of Ambedkar and company, many Dalits saw Gandhi as being on their side. The portrayal of Gandhi as either a ‘Hindu’ leader or an ‘upper caste’ leader was made with great determination, but with limited success. No one even tried to represent him as a ‘Gujarati’, since his identification with the other parts and provinces of India was as deep and sincere as with his own.

Likewise with Jawaharlal Nehru. As Rajmohan Gandhi has pointed out, the main reason the Mahatma chose Nehru as his heir — above Patel, Rajagopalachari, Azad, Kripalani, or Prasad — was that his personality and political beliefs transcended the divides of religion, region, gender, and language. No one thought of Nehru as a man of the Doab, or as a Hindu, or as a male chauvinist. He was greatly admired by south Indians, by Muslims and Christians, and by women, large sections of whom saw him as working for and on behalf of their own best interests.

Ironically, and tragically, it is the fact that they so effectively transcended sectarian boundaries while they lived, that makes Gandhi and Nehru so vulnerable to criticism and abuse now.

(Emphases mine)

And Guha ends his essay with this wonderful comment:

And so, of all our icons and heroes dead or alive, the two whom we can most fearlessly criticise are the two who did most to build a free and democratic India. This, to be sure, is a land of paradox and contradiction, but of all the paradoxes and contradictions abroad this one must surely count as the most bizarre. That we can treat Gandhi and Nehru as we do testifies to their greatness, and perhaps also to our own meanness.

Addendum: Shrek proposes an alternate explanation (here) of our love-hate relationship with Nehru/Gandhi. He believes that the reason is psychology, not sociology. The text-book depictions of the freedom fighters are such that we grow up thinking that they were flawless. And when we eventually learn that they were after all flawed, we focus on the negative and revolt. Couple of my friends also opined that "[I]t is indeed a part of human nature that we do sometimes get drawn into biased thinking regarding certain issues or people, conveniently forgetting or bypassing some alarmingly positive facts in the process." - referring to the blunder Nehru made regarding Kashmir issue. We, Indians, have huge emotional investments in the Kashmir issue and we are extremely sensitive about it, that "the man who made the wrong call on Kashmir" became such a hate-figure. (And not to mention how the right-wing politicians and activists honed our discontent for their own benefits.)

The answer to the question "Why do we love to hate Nehru/Gandhi?" is, probably, multi-faceted. But whatever the explanations are, the roots are in our (society's) faulty/biased interpretations & thinking. 

Lord Macaulay "chaar sau bees"

I received a forwarded e-mail, titled "See what was [sic] India at [sic] 1835", from one of my friends. The e-mail included the following quote that was supposedly spoken or written by Lord Macaulay.

"I have traveled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such calibre, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and, therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native self-culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation."

The validity of this quote is quite unclear. I tried to look up on-line and see if I can find any authentic source, but I found none. There are many who claim this quote as false, but none of these sources look authentic too. In any case, a quick look at Macaulay's writings and thoughts would make it clear that this man is very unlikely to utter such words of glory for anything that is Indian. 

Anyway, I found couple of interesting things about Macaulay. He came to India in 1934 to serve in Supreme Court and spent about 4 years there. During his tenure in India, he made two major contributions. He created the criminal law system that was enacted in India after the Great Mutiny of 1957. This code was soon to be reproduced in many other British colonies. It was Section 420 of this code, that became a very popular cultural reference. Even today, after more than 150 years of its creation, tricksters are called chaar sau bees (Four Hundred Twenty in Hindi) in India. His second contribution is quite controversial. In 1835, he convinced the Governor General to replace Sanskrit (and Arabic) with English as the medium of higher education (6th year of schooling onwards). He wrote a well-known article called Minute on Indian Education, which played a pivotal role in convincing the British government to implement this change. [The full text can be found here]

A century and a half later, one can make an arguement that the software revolution might have never happened if it wasn't for Macaulay.

Looking at this article more closely, many of his quotes look highly dramatized and controversial. Here's one for example: "... a single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia.". This is an exaggerated statement at its best. The whole article is full of many such false claims and justifications, but I think there are few points that are worth giving some thought. While I strongly disagree with the construct and reasoning of his argument, I tend to agree with the core reason to opt for English because it had the necessary vocabulary to explain modern science and medicine. What makes his argument difficult to digest is his prolix claims about Sanskrit/Arabic being useless languages 

"... the dialects commonly spoken among the natives of this part of India, contain neither literary nor scientific information, and are, moreover, so poor and rude that, until they are enriched from some other quarter, it will not be easy to translate any valuable work into them."

On the other hand, I think there's some fact in his proposition that there's very little historical information in the books written in Sanskrit (most of them are fables, poems, and shlokas), but again, his proclamation about this [read the entire text here] is full with spurious nonsensical comparisons.

Here's another interesting quote from Minute on Indian Education:

"...it is impossible for us, with our limited means, to attempt to educate the body of the people. We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern; a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect."

This passage gave birth to the term Macaulay's Children, which is used (often in derogatory fashion) to refer to any Indian born individual who has adopted Western culture or lifestyle or values (Anglophiles that are not loyal to their own Indian heritage).

There are different school of thoughts in India that either revile or revere to Macaulay's impact on education in India. There are some dalit activists that believe that it was because of the introduction of English medium that the lowest strata of the Indian society could become even eligible to get eduction. Their claim is based on the postulation that Sanskrit was considered a sacred language, and only the upper caste Hindus were entitled to learn the scriptures and texts written in Sanskrit. Once English became lingua franca in schools, that bar was removed. [Source] And on then there are protectionists who think that Macaulay's actions was a severe blow to the native languages as well as culture. To them Macaulay has become  synonymous with cultural estrangement of Hindus. [Here is an article, with saffron color sprinkled all over, on Hindu Jagruti web-site.] According to such measures, the four biggest enemies of Hindu Dharama are: Muslims, Missionaries, Marxists and Macaulayites... known as the 4 M's!

For further reading, here's a link to Ramachandra Guha's take on Macaulay's Minute. And the Wikipedia link.

A timeline of political & social events in INDIA AFTER GANDHI

I recently finished reading a fascinating, comprehensive book “India After Gandhi” written by respected scholar and historian Ramachandra Guha. 

Below I have tried to capture most of the significant events that took place in India in and after 1947. I have tried my best to capture most of the events, at least the ones that are mentioned in this book. This, by no means, is a complete time-line.

1947

•  India gets Independence form British rule on 15^th August. (The date is chosen by Viceroy Lord Mountbatten, as it was the second anniversary of the day when Japanese army surrendered to the Allied force in the 2^nd World War.)
  
• Pakistan is created by partitioning India. Millions die in clashes and religious conflicts between Hindus and Muslims and especially Sikhs and Muslims.
• Jawaharlal Nehru becomes the first Prime Minister of Independent India
• Travancore (the first princely state to question the right of the Congress to succeed the British rule) finally decides to accede to Indian Union after C. P. Ramaswamy Aiyer, the chief advisor and diwan of Travancore is attacked by a man.
• Bhopal (Hindu majority, Muslim ruler) and Jodhpur (Hindu majority, Hindu ruler, but because of its proximity to Pakistan the king was alluded by the idea of getting better terms from that Dominion) also follows Travancore’s example and signs the instrument of accession.
• Junagadh’s Muslim nawab (ruling chiefly Hindu population) gets acceptance from Pakistan to join the Dominion, but due to obvious popular agitation, ten days later the nawab (Sir Shah Nawaz) hands over the administration to India. (A referendum was held in February 1948, resulting in 91% voting in favor of acceding to India.)
• The Hindu maharaja of Kashmir Hari Singh signs the Instrument of Accession after several thousand armed men (mostly Pathans from Pakistan) invads his state from the North. India, in turn, sends its troops to fight with the intruders. (It was Mountbatten who suggested that it would be best to secure Kashmir state’s accession before sending troops.)
• A delegation of Naga National Council (most autonomous among the tribes in North-East) meets governor of Assam to discuss the terms by which Nagas can join Indian Union. Nehru reiterated that they could get autonomy but not independence.

1948

•  Mahatma Gandhi is shot dead by a Hindu chauvinist and an RSS member from Maharashtra – Nathuram Godse on 30^th January.
•  Gandhi’s death reconciles the bitter relationship between Nehru and Patel, which could otherwise have significant negative consequences for the nation.
• India sends troops and took control over the State of Hyderabad (85% Hindus, but army, police and civil service were dominated by Muslims). This becomes easier decision to make for Patel after Mountbatten’s departure from India.
• India decides to take Kashmir issue to UN.  But as UN supported Pakistan’s position, Nehru immediately regrets his decision.
• Sheikh Abdulla (pro-India and Nehru’s close friend) becomes the prime minister of Jammu and Kashmir.
• Pakistan and India battles in the later months of 1948, India recaptures Dras, Kargil and Poonch.
• Jaipal Singh (president of Adivasi Mahashbha) gives his presidential speech and asks for speedy creation of Jharkhand. (He speaks of how “British imperialism” is being replaced by “Bihari Imperialism” for Adivasis after independence.)

1949

•  India becomes a full-fledged republic on 26^th January. This date was originally chosen by Indian National Congress in 1930, when it passed a countrywide resolution of celebrating last Sunday of January (26^th) in support of purna swaraj.
• To Nehru’s annoyance, Rajendra Prasad who was close to Patel and had wider popularity in Congress, (not C. Rajagopalachari who was the Governor General and Nehru’s friend) becomes the first President.
• Nehru visits US for the first time. His visit is widely covered and publicized by American press, but his meetings with the US State Department went nowhere.
• A popular movement forces the maharaja of Manipur to join with India. After Manipur merges with India, the territory is designated as “Part C” state. (It has no popularly elected body and is ruled by a chief commissioner who reports directly to Delhi.)

1950 

• The constitution of India (with 395 articles and 8 schedules – it’s probably the longest in the world) goes into effect in January. The most influential (out of more than 300) members of the Constituent Assembly were: Nehru, Patel, Rajendra Prasad who was the president of the assembly, the chairman of the Drafting Committee B. R. Ambedkar, a Gujarati polymath K. M. Munshi and a Tamil advocate general Krishnaswami Aiyar.
• Nehru criticizes China’s invasion and annexation of Tibet, while being careful of not “overdoing” the criticism. Patel urges Nehru to strengthen defence, but Nehru thinks that attack from China is unlikely.
• Home Minister Vallabhbhai Patel dies.
• By this time, more than 500 “centers of feudal autocracy” had been acceded to India. Patel’s achievement owes hugely to his secretary V. P. Menon (a Malyali from Malabar) who was the chief draftsman of princely integration and its first chronicler.

1951

•  Respected Gandhian J. B. Kripalani forms KMPP (Kisan Majdoor Praja Party).
• American congress debates the food request from India, while Soviet Union sends 50,000 tons of wheat loosening its frosty relationship (due to CPI in India) in early last few years.
• A disciple of Gandhi, Vinoba Bhave begins his Bhoodan movement (which would eventually obtain more than 4 million acres from zamindars.)
• Nehru and Ambedkar make several attempts to pass the (liberal) Hindu Code Bill into law but the opposition was considerable within Parliament as well as outside of it. RSS was amongst the many groups that fiercely opposed it.

1952

• First general election in independent India, which chooses to move straight into universal adult franchise. (Chief Election Commissioner is Sukumar Sen)
• At that time, 175 million Indians were aged 21 or more, and 85% of them could not read or write.
• 60% of the total registered voters exercise their franchise in what was termed as “the biggest experiment in democracy in human history” by Sukumar Sen.
• Congress receives 45% of the vote and wins 75% of the seats.
• The Akali Dal leader master Tara Singh (originally Hindu, later converted to Sikh) is arrested again for making “inflammatory” speeches during election. He started making claims that Sikhism was in danger and insisted on having a separate nation for his religion.
• After the election, Andhra movement (statehood for Telugu speaking people) becomes strong again.
• A man named Potti Sriramulu begins fast until death. Nehru ignores this. Sriramulu dies on fifty-eighth day into this fast, pulling huge reaction from Andhra public.
• Several months after Potti Sriramulu’s death, after damage to the state property runs in millions, a new state of Andhra Pradesh is carved out of Madras state.
• The situation becomes worse in Jammu after Dr. Shyama Prasad Mookerjee’s death. Mookerjee (who left Nehru’s cabinet to form Bhartiya Jana Sangh) dies in jail after trying to enter Srinagar against state government’s will.
• Naga National Council’s chief Angami Phizo meets with Nehru, but Nehru is adamant about not giving independence to Nagas.

1953

•  Sheikh Abdulla is dismissed from National Congress and arrested after the rift broke between the two segments of the party: one pro-India and the other pro-independence of Kashmir. Ghulam Mohammed (famously known as “Bakshi”) becomes the new pro-Indian populist prime minister of Kashmir.
• Naga National Council leaders start collecting arms, organize “village guards” and go underground. Police raids suspected areas further alienating the villagers. Indian Army’s presence considerably increases in the area.

1954

• By this time, India has total 40 embassies around the world. (The goal was set by Nehru five years ago, after he personally supervised the creation of Indian Foreign Service.)
• India officially recognizes Tibet as a part of China, and Nehru visits China for the first time.
• French finally gives up its territory Pondicherry to India.
• Nehru visits the site of Bhakhra (Sutlej river) dam to formally initiate the project. At this time, the 680 feet dam was the second highest in the world. (Only the Grand Coulee Dam on Colorado River was higher.)
• The first IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) is inaugurated by Nehru.

1955

•  After 18 months of intensive work, The State Recognition Committee submits its report with recommendations about redistributing the areas (into states).
• The new states based on languages come into being. (Although Nehru was opposed to the creation of states on lingual basis, it was inevitable after SRC’s report that further strengthened the popular will.)
• Hindu Marriage Act and Hindu Succession passes into law. The radical changes in Hindu laws pertaining to marriage & inheritance were mainly the work of Nehru and Ambedkar.

1956

•  In a colorful and well-attended ceremony, Ambedkar converts to Buddhism in Nagpur. Many dalits joined him in the conversion.
•  (Six weeks later) Ambedkar dies in December after months of ill health, diabetes and complications thereof.
• The newly formed Naga Hills Force is on full scale war on the Naga Hills – not getting any coverage from both Indian and International press.

1957

•  Second general elections are held in India. Thus, India “certifiably” joins the league of democracies. Sukumar Sen is still the chief election commissioner.
• Slightly less than 50% adult Indians votes out of total 193 million who registered to vote.
• Mrs. Indira Gandhi becomes Nehru’s official hostess during the election campaign.
• Since S. P. Mookerjee was dead and Jayaprakash Narayan had abandoned politics for social work, Congress gets a comfortable majority in the parliament (371 seats).
• Congress faces regional challenges: In Orissa Congress is strongly opposed by Ganatantra Parishad (local landlords), in Bombay by Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti and Mahagujarat Parishad (both fighting for separate states), in South by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), In Kerala by Communist Party of India (CPI).
• The victory of CPI in Kerala is noteworthy. The first chance for communist to govern a full-fledged province in a large country. E. M. S. Namboodiripad becomes the new chief minister of Kerala.
• The Mundhra scandal (large investments were made by state owned Life Insurance Company in a private first in Kanpur owned by Haridas Mundhra) makes the first serious dent in Congress’ image of Gandhian austerity.

1959

•  The first molten iron comes out of the blast furnace in Bhilai, Madhya Pradesh where Russians and Indians worked shoulder to shoulder to lay the foundations of iron industry in India. (The Germans built one plant in Rurkela, Orissa and the British in Durgapur, West Bengal. America didn’t get any such agreements.)
• Mrs. Indira Gandhi is elected the president of Indian National Congress.
• Nehru’s government succumbs to popular sentiment and dismisses Kerala’s Communist government.
• C. Rajagopalachari (a.k.a. Rajaji) launches a new political party, Swatantra Party.  (He firmly believed that there should be an opposition group within the Congress, but his proposal to do so was rejected by Congress.)
• Dalai Lama crosses the McMahon line and enters the territory of India, making the Indo-Chinese relationship even more bitter and resentful.

1960

•  The states of Gujarat and Maharashtra come into being on May 1^st. Bombay gets allocated to the latter.
• The Naga people’s convention presents a memorandum to the prime minister demanding a separate state of Nagaland within Indian Union. With Naga question successfully internationalized (by the fierce leader A. Phizo), Nehru succumbs and declares that a new state Nagaland will be craved out of Assam.

1961

•  After waiting for 14 years for a peaceful solution with the Portuguese colony, Nehru’s government decides to “liberate” Goa. Indian troops enters Goa and successfully finishes Operation Vijay.

1962

•  Congress retains its majority in the general elections (361 seats out of 494).
• A “phony war” that had been going on since 1959 becomes real when Chinese army invades the eastern (northeast frontier area south of McMahon line and north part of Assam and western (Aksai Chin area south of Sinkiang and east part of Jammu & Kashmir) sectors. Indians were unprepared for this. V. K. Krishna Menon is finally removed from the post of defense minister.
• Surprisingly, Chinese announce unilateral ceasefire. In NEFA they pulls back to the north of McMahon line and in the Ladakh sector they retreat to their positions before these hostilities began. (By this time, according to Defence Ministry’s statistics, 1,383 Indian soldiers got killed, 3,968 became POW, and 1,696 were still missing.)
• In the aftermath of the war, DMK (headed by C. N. Annadurai) dropped its secessionism. It no longer wanted a separate country, but it did want to protect the culture and language of Tamil speaking people.
• The state of Nagaland is created.

1964

•  Nehru’s illness becomes sever. He persuades the party to return Lal Bahadur Shastri to the Cabinet. Shastri becomes the de facto prime minister.
• Jawaharlal Nehru dies. Gulzarilal Nanda is sworn in a acting prime minister.
• Congress Working Committee finalizes on Lal Bahadur Shastri as Nehru’s successor. (Other contenders were: A Tamilian K. Kamraj, the congress president, and Morarji Desai, an outstanding administrator from Gujarat who made it clear that he wanted the job.)
• China tests a nuclear device. Dr. Homi Bhabha gives a talk on All India Radio suggesting that India should develop a nuclear deterrent of its own.

1965

•  As 26^th January, 1965 approached, opponents of Hindi geared up for action. (The constitution that went into effect in 1950, gave fifteen years of grace period when English was to be used along with Hindi in communication between center and state. After 15 years, Hindi would prevail.)
• After several protests in Madras, appeals signed by leading politicians of the time (from Madras, Bengal, Mysore), and resignation of two union ministers, Shastri gave in and declared that (a) every state will have the right to do their own business in language of their own choice, (b) inter-state communications will either be in English or accompanied by an authentic English translator, (c) non-Hindi states will be free to correspond to the Center in English, (d) in the transaction of business at the Center English will be continued to be used, and (e) Indian Civil Services examination would continue to be conducted in English.
• Sheikh Abdulla, while returning from his trip to Mecca, stops at Algiers and meets with Chinese prime minister (who also happened to be in Algerian capital). He is taken under arrest as soon as he arrives at New Delhi.
• A conflict broke over a salt marsh in Kachchh desert which was claimed by both India and Pakistan. Pakistan (president – Ayub Khan) used their American tanks successfully, forcing Indians to withdraw some 40 miles.
• In the late summer, Pakistan army starts off Operation Gibraltar in Kashmir to invoke rebellion in the region. As the rebellion did not get materialized, they condemned Operation Grand Slam in Jammu. Indians head straight for Lahor (whether Lahor fell or not remains a disputed question.) Both sides claim victory.
• Shastri becomes the first prime minister to increase the budget for agriculture. (Jai Jawan, Jai Kishan.)

 1966

• By this time, only 1.77% of senior administrative posts were occupied by low-caste Indians, 8.86% of clerical jobs and as many as 17.9% of posts of peons and attendents.
• Shastri and Pakistani President Ayub Khan meet in Taskent along with the Soviet Union Prime Minister Kosygin, and signs “Taskent Agreemetn”.
• On the same night Lal Bahadur Shashtri dies in sleep, of cardiac arrest.
• Gulzarilal Nanda is (once again) sworn in as acting prime minister.
• Congress president Kamraj endorse Indira Gandhi’s name. But Morarji Desai decides to contest for the leadership.
• Indira Gandhi becomes the second woman elected to lead a free country (after Ceylon’s Sirimavo Bandarnaike).
• Mizo National Front (which first sought a separate state and then a separate country) launches uprising against Indian government.
• The government decides to devalue the Rupee. The exchange rate (earlier pegged at $1 = Rs. 4.76) became $1=Rs. 7.50.
• Punjab and Hariyana stated divide. Cahndigadh remains as capital for both.

1967

• Fourth general election since independence.
•  Congress retains majority, but the % of votes decline from previous elections.
• In 22 of the 75 constituencies in Kashmir, Congress candidates are returned unopposed, after the rival’s nomination papers gets rejected.
• P. N. Haksar, a Kashmiri Brahman, then the deputy high commissioner is London is asked by Indira Gandhi to join her Secretariat. (Since then, until 1973 he remains probably the most influential and powerful person in the government.)
• After the banks were nationalized, Mrs. Gandhi turns to abolition of the privileges of the prices.

1969

• One of the worst communal riots after independence takes place in Ahmedabad on Mahatma’s 100^th birth anniversary. More than 1000 people die.
  

1971

•  The Prime Minister calls for the election 14 months ahead of its schedule (astutely disassociating the general elections from the elections of the state assemblies).
•  The size of the electorate in nation’s fifth general election: 275 million.
• Mrs. Gandhi’s Congress (I) wins the election with comfortable majority.
• India starts hosting training camps for Bengali guerrillas (known as “Mukti Bahini”) preparing them to wage a war against East Pakistan army.
• Early December Pakistani bombers (under general Yahya Khan) attack airfields all along the western border, and simultaneously 7 regiments are attacked in Kashmir.
• The war lasts little less than 2 weeks. The Indian army moved to Dacca from four directions, and formally recognizes the Provisional Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. Pakistani troops surrender.
• By this time, sex ratio in India is 931 women to 1000 men. While 39% of males can read or write, but only 18.4% of females can.

1974

• Students in Gajarat lead a movement, named Nav Nirman, demanding the dismissal of the state government, which was quite notorious for corruption. (Chimanbhai Patel is the Chief Minister of Gujarat.) The movement becomes violent, and Gujarat comes under “President’s Rule” as a result.
• The Republic of India acquires a chunk of territory that previously constituted the quasi-independent state of Sikkim. (Previously, Sikkim was ruled by is hereditary monarch but it was politically and economically dependent on India.)

1975

• Indira Gandhi becomes India’s first Prime Minister to testify in court (for the hearing of a petition filed by Ra Narain who had lost to Mrs. Gandhi in the Parliamentary election in 1971, the petition alleged that she won the election through corrupt practices).
• On 26^th June, state of emergency is declared in India. Many opposition leaders, including, Jayprakash Narayan, Morarji Desai, are sent to jail. Sanjay Gandhi becomes Prime Minister’s close associate during this time of crucial political importance.

1977

•  To the surprise of Mrs. Gandhi’s political opponents, she announces that Parliament was to be dissolved and elections were to be held. (Precisely what or who persuaded the Prime Minister to end the emergency? Remains a mystery.)
• Congress faces a wider wash-out in the North, but performs somewhat well in South. For the first time in the nation’s 30-year history, a party other than the Congress (Janata Party) would govern at the Centre.
• The “grand old men” behind Janata Party – Jayprakash Narayan and J. B. Kripalani – chooses Morarji Desai for the post of Prime Minister. External affairs department goes to Atal Behari Vajpayee.
• DMK’s 10-year rule comes to an end. M. G. Ramachandran’s (MGR) charisma and charm brings AIADMK victory in the state elections.
• Under pressure from the backward caste’s lobby within Janata, Morarji Desai appoints a commission to examine whether reservation should also be extended to the jobs in Central Government. The commission was headed by a politician from Bihar, B. P. Mandal.

1978

• Jimmy Carter comes to visit India, the first US president to do so since Eisenhower.
• External Affairs minister Vajpayee visits Pakistan and charms the hosts, the dictator Zia-Ul-Haq included, who thought that Vajpayee as a Jana Sangh man, would be anti-muslim and anti-Pakistan.

 1979

• Morarji Desai resigns after Janata Party splits into three parts: headed by Morarji Desai, Jagjivan Ram and Charan Singh.
• Jayprakash Narayan dies after the disintegration of Janata Party.
• Charan Singh is sworn as Prime Minster, but a month later Indira’s Congress (I) withdraws support, which forces a mid-term election.

1980

• Mrs. Gandhi, now sixty-three, returns to power as a result of the mid-term election.
• Sanjay Gandhi dies in a plane accident. He did three loops in the air, tried a fourth but lost control. Due to this, Mrs. Gandhi’s elder son Rajiv Gandhi, feels increasing pressure to enter politics.
• By early 1980s the movement in the tribal state of Jharkhand takes more militant form. Naxalites activists, arrested during the emergency but released afterwards, makes their presence felt in the tribal areas of Andhra Pradesh. The Asamese Nationalist movement (originally born out of hostilities between Asamese and Bengali speaking people in Asam) acquires gigantic proportions.
• In Punjab, when Akalis were dismissed and Congress took power, a group of students meets at the Golden Temple and proclaims an independent state of Punjab. The republic is named Khalistan.
• The state of Gujarat was convulsed by clashes between forward and backward classes.
• After Janata Party was routed in the elections, its Jana Sangh members broke away to form a new party – Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) – to represent and advance he “Hindu” interest.

1982

• A great film actor N. T. Rama Rao (NTR) forms a new regional political party, Telugu Desam, which stands for “the honor and self-respect for the 60 million Telugu speaking people”. A year later, he will be sworn as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.
• Sheikh Abdulla dies, and Farooq Abdullah takes his father’s job.

 1983

•  After years of terrorism and killings, President’s Rule is imposed on Punjab. And Bhindranwale (an obscure preacher) takes up residence in Akal Takht at the Golden Temple.
  

 1984

• Attacks on Hindu and some Sikh civilians become more frequent in Punjab.  Major General R. S. Brar is summoned by the Prime Minster to lead the operation to rid the Golden Temple of terrorism.
• The Operation Bluestar finishes successfully after death of (government estimates) 4 officers, 70 soldiers and around 500 terrorists. Outside Punjab, many people appreciated Mrs. Gandhi’s strong and necessary (if belated) actions, but this left a collective wound on the psyche of Sikhs (even those Sikhs who previously opposed Bhindranwale).
• Indira Gandhi is shot dead by two of her Sikh personal bodyguards.
• Violence follows Mrs. Gandhi’s death, more than 1,000 Sikhs dies in Delhi alone. The police simply looked on, or sometimes even actively aided the looting and murder.
• In the worst industrial accident in human history, 2,000 people die due to the release of MIC (methyl isocyanate) in Bhopal. It came from a pesticide plant owned and run by an American firm, Union Carbide.
•  18^th general election in Indian takes place in December.

 1985

• Rajiv Gandhi becomes the Prime Minister after sweeping majority in the parliamentary election with more than 400 seats.
• The first budget by Rajiv Gandhi’s government (Finance Minister: V. P. Singh) seeks to liberalize trade sector. Licensing regime is simplified, with crucial sectors such as machine tools, textiles, drugs and computers are deregulated. Curbs on assets of individual companies are partially lifted, and rates of corporate and personal income tax are reduced.
• In the famous “Shah Bano verdict”, the Supreme Court dismisses Mohammed Ahmed Khan (Shah Bano’s ex-husband) and confirms that Khan would have to continue paying Shah Bano monthly allowance. (Khan’s argument was that according to Islamic Law he was responsible to pay allowance for only three months. SC invoked section 125 of the Criminal Procedure code, whereby a divorced woman was entitled to claim an allowance from her former husband if he had taken another wife – as Khan did – and if she had not remarried – as was the case with Bano.)
• Reliance experiences growth rates unprecedented in Indian industry. Through the 1980s, the company’s asset grows at an estimated 60% per year.

 1986 

• Succumbing the pressure from Islamist lobby, the government introduced a Muslim Women’s Bill (which eventually became law) in Parliament that sought to overturn the Supreme Court verdict, by taking the Muslim personal law out of the purview of the Criminal Procedure Code.
• The government of India signs a peace agreement with the leader of Mizo National Front. By its terms, the MNF rebels lays down their arms and government says it would grant full statehood to Mizoram. (The model here was the agreement of 1975 in Kashmir when Sheikh Abdullah came into power in similar fashion.)
• The district judge of Ayodhya (in Uttar Pradesh) ordered that the locks be opened to permit worship at a small Hindu shrine, which was located inside a large mosque (known as Babri Masjid) built in 16^th century by a general of the Mughal emperor Babur.
• In Bengal, the Nepali-speaking people in Darjeeling hill area begins asking for a separate state under the leadership of former soldier Subhash Ghisingh. Eventually, the prime minister persuades him to accept an autonomous hill council rather than a separate state.
• In Tripura, tribal activists begins struggle against the Bengalis who had migrated in large numbers after the partition.
• To tackle the resurgence of terrorism in Punjab, a new chief is brought in K. P. S. Gill.

 1987

• Episodes of Ramayana started showing in January on national telecast (Doordarshan). Estimated viewer-ship is 80 million.
• Bad monsoon causes famines in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Orissa and many other parts of the country affecting about 200 million people by one estimate.
• Rajiv Gandhi is asked by Sri Lankan president, J. R. Jayaverden, to help mediate the conflict - a bloody civil war between Sinhala majority and Tamil minority. As many as 48,000 soldiers are eventually stationed in Sri Lanka. This became very unpopular especially among the Tamils who always thought that India was on their side.
• A storm breaks out over the revelation that commissions had been paid to the middlemen in a deal involving the sale of the Swedish Bofors guns to the Indian Army. V. P. Singh leaves the cabinet as well as Congress.
• Studies show that class (still) strongly overlaps with caste in India, where the truly disadvantaged continues to be Harijans or Scheduled Castes. (For example, a survey in Karnataka reveals that 80% of the SCs living in countryside and as well as more than 60% of SCs living in towns are below the official poverty line.)

 1988

• India tests its first surface-to-surface missile, capable to attacking targets that are as far as 100 miles away.
•  V. P. Singh’s party Jana Morcha is merged with the old Janata Party to form Janata Dal, and becomes the focal point for anti-Congress sentiment.

 1989

• Rajiv Gandhi visits China – the first prime minister to do so in last three decades.
• Congress faces serious challenges in the General elections from: Asom Gana Parishad in Assam, Telugu Desam in Andhra Pradesh, Akalis in Punjab, and from the Hindu right – Bharatiya Janata Party. Congress wins only 197 seats, down from more than 200 from its previous tally.
• The general elections of 1989 were the first in which no single party won a majority.
• V. P. Singh is sworn as the head of National Front government, with the left an BJP choosing to support it from outside. (Singh becomes the second non-Congress prime minister of India, who, like his the first, spent most of his life in Congress.)

I had to end the timeline at 1989, as the events after that are only sparsely captured in this book. (The reason is that, as Guha says, it’s always becomes very difficult to remain impartial while analyzing events that are more recent. Guha explains in his book, “Those who write contemporary history know that they are not addressing a passive reader of text placed in front of him. The reader is also a citizen, a critical citizen, with his own political and ideological preferences.”)