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 Panėpat (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
Kashmėr
Kashmėr,
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 Kashmėr." Three days
later the Hindu leader Hari Singh, Maharaja of Kashmėr, announced the accession
of Kashmėr 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 Srėnagar, the capital of Kashmėr 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 Kashmėr. 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 Kashmėr 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 Kashmėr, 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 Kashmėr
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 Kashmėr were
terminated in December 1953 over disagreement on the number and composition of
troops to be stationed there during the voting. The Kashmėr 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 Kashmėr to be an integral part of
the Indian Republic, following decisions to that effect by the Kashmėr
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 Kashmėr, 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 Kashmėr. 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 Kashmėr 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 Kashmėr. Since Pakistan was pursuing a nuclear
weapons development program, many countries feared that the dispute over Kashmėr
could escalate into a nuclear conflict. In July 1995 a pro-separatist group
called Al Faran kidnapped six tourists who were traveling in Kashmėr. 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 Kashmėr to vote
because of boycotting on the part of pro-separatist groups. In protest of the
elections in Jammu and Kashmėr, 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 Kashmėr.
"India,"
Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 97 Encyclopedia. (c)
1993-1996 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.