Political developments in independent and partitioned India from

1947-1990

Independence declared

On August 15, 1947, at the stroke of midnight, India and Pakistan achieved independence from British rule
– signalling the beginning of the end of the largest empire in history.

Assassination of the Mahatma

The beloved leader and the epitome of non-violence Mahatma Gandhi was
shot dead by a Hindu fanatic named Nathuram Godse on 29th January, 1948.

Formation of the Constitution

The constitution was drafted by the Constituent Assembly, which was elected by elected
[19]
members of the provincial assemblies. The 389-member assembly (reduced to 299 after the
partition of India) took almost three years to draft the constitution holding eleven sessions over a
165-day period. It was adopted by the Constituent Assembly of India on 26 November 1949 and
[
became effective on 26 January 1950.

Adoption of article 370

Article 370, adopted in 1949, of the Indian constitution gave special status to Jammu and
Kashmir, a region located in the northern part of Indian subcontinent which was administered by
India as a state from 1954

First general elections

The first General Elections of India started on 25th October 1951 and continued till 21st February
1952. It was a landslide victory for the Indian National Congress and Jawaharlal Nehru became
India’s first democratically elected Prime Minister. The INC won the elections in a big way. It
received four times as many votes as the second-largest party. INC won 364 seats and the
Communist Party of India (CPI) was second with 16 seats. Almost 45% of the votes went in INC’s
favour.

1954: Jammu and Kashmir’s accession to India is ratified by the state’s constituent
assembly

1961: Indian Army liberates Goa from the Portuguese; it becomes a Union
Territory.

1962: French-ruled Pondicherry (now Puducherry) becomes part of India as a

Union Territory.

Sino-Indian War of 1962

The Sino-Indian War between China and India occurred in October–November 1962. A disputed
Himalayan border was the main cause of the war. There had been a series of violent border
skirmishes between the two countries after the 1959 Tibetan uprising, when India granted asylum
to the Dalai Lama.

Indo-Pakistani War of 1965

The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 was a culmination of skirmishes that took place between April
1965 and September 1965 between Pakistan and India. The conflict began following Pakistan's
Operation Gibraltar, which was designed to infiltrate forces into Jammu and Kashmir to
precipitate an insurgency against Indian rule.

1966: Punjab is divided into three states along linguistic lines—Haryana, Himachal
Pradesh and Punjab
1970: Meghalaya is formed as an autonomous state within Assam in 1970. It
becomes a separate state in 1972 with Shillong as its capital under the North
Eastern Areas (Re-organisation) Act,1971. The Act subsequently creates the states
of Manipur, Tripura, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and present-day Assam.

East Pakistan Liberation War

The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 was a military confrontation between India and Pakistan that
occurred during the Bangladesh Liberation War in East Pakistan from 3 December 1971 to the
fall of Dacca on 16 December 1971

Pokhran nuclear tests 1974

Operation Smiling Buddha (MEA designation: Pokhran-I) was the assigned code
name of India's first successful nuclear bomb test on 18 May 1974. The bomb was
detonated on the army base Pokhran Test Range (PTR), in Rajasthan, by the Indian
Army under the supervision of several key Indian generals.

Emergency of 1975
in 1975, emergency was declared in India, for a 21-month period by the then Prime
Minister Indira Gandhi. Officially issued by President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed under
Article 352 of the Constitution due to the prevailing "internal disturbance", the
Emergency was in effect from June 25, 1975, until its withdrawal on March 21, 1977.

1975: Socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan leads the anti-Emergency movement.

1977: Emergency ends, first non-Congress government elected at the centre.

Formation of BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was formed on April 6, 1980 with former Prime
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the first party President. Earlier Bharatiya Jana
Sangh (BJS), founded by Syama Prasad Mookerjee, had merged itself into the
Janata Party in 1977. However, due to internal differences in Janata Party, the
Janata government collapsed, and BJP became a separate party.

Operation Bluestar of 1984

Operation Blue Star is launched to drive out the Sikh extremist religious
leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his armed followers from the premises
of the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

Assassination of Indira Gandhi

Iron Lady of India, Indira Gandhi died on October 31 in 1984. She was
shot dead by two of her bodyguards.

Bhopal Gas Tragedy

More than 3,500 people die and 500,000 are injured in the Bhopal Gas
Tragedy following the leakage of toxic methyl isocyanate from Union Carbide
India Ltd’s pesticide plant in the city

1988: Prime minister Rajiv Gandhi visits China and meets Deng
Xiaoping—the first visit to China by an Indian prime minister in 34 years;
they agree to set up a joint working group to ensure peace in the border areas
and make concrete recommendations for overall resolution of the boundary
question within a definite time frame.