From Nehru era to the present political climate in India, the state and people have been struggling against all odds. With emergence of civil societies at the political front and Lok Sabha elections few months away, it is a right time to critically analyze the journey of Indian politics from 1947 to 67th Independence Day. A report by Neha Saluja
Independence did not come easy to India and it paid the heavy price for it, The Partition. Soon, after Independence, all leaders proliferated to the establishment of democratic and secular system both at national and local level of governance. The sudden assassination of Mahatma Gandhi shook the nation completely, which was already entangled with religious disputes, managing the princely states and most importantly the grounding of the authority. The discord between the two separated states during freedom- India and Pakistan, over the claim of Kashmir shortly became the centre of political turmoil. To resolve the conflict, in 1949 Karachi Agreement was signed which stated the founding of line of ceasefire under the supervision of UN observers.
Rise & Fall of Nehru
By 1950, the constitution was carefully designed considering the cultural, religious and caste diversity in the society. And, finally 1951-52 saw the first general elections of free India, where Nehru led Congress got a landslide victory winning a little more than 50 per cent seats. Democratically elected debutant Prime Minister Nehru with his cabinet undertook several attempts to provide economic measures to the weak economy. Planning Commission was founded and industrialization was set as the main focus, constant efforts were made for the founding of heavy and large scale industrial units, atomic energy plants, and development in the agrarian output, and dealing with water and power scarcity.
Another victory feather in the cap of Nehru came in 1957 but interesting communist parties in Southern India emerged as winners of the state. Around the same time, Indira Gandhi made her presence and was elected as the Congress Chief. The political arena changed dramatically in the early 60s, when India faced a humiliating border defeat against China which is landmarked as the downfall of Nehru. The no- confidence motion was passed against him and his position was shattered when his cabinet ministers openly criticized him on policy matters. Nonetheless, Congress Party under the leadership of Nehru managed another victory in 1962 polls scoring fewer seats this time as Communist Party, Bhartiya Jana Sangh and other opposition parties did unexpectedly well! The untimely death of Nehru in 1964 was a major setback not only for the party and but also for the nation. After, the short-term successor Gulzarilal Nanda, Lal Bahadur Shastri was later handed over the responsibility of the office of Prime Minister.
Dawn of Iron Lady: Indira is India and India is Indira
Like Nehru, Shastri too faced the war situation at the border with Pakistan this time over Kashmir issue. The first Indo- Pak war, 1965 got aggravated when infiltrators from Pakistan entered Jammu and Kashmir. Shastri dealt the matter with strict approach and celebrated its victory. No sooner did the victory was declared, Shastri flew to Russia and signed the Tashkent ceasefire declaration with President Ayub Khan. Sadly, Shastri died all of a sudden of cardiac arrest the very next day and Indira Gandhi succeeded his seat becoming the first lady Prime Minister of the world’s largest democracy.
In 1967, she and Congress Party had a swift win in the elections but the support system of Congress had shaken by then with ever increasing socio- economic problems and discontent among the public with the government. The food shortage, poverty, agrarian policies and growing economic divide among the people gave rise to movements like Naxal in few parts of the country which now has grown manifolds. To deal with poverty stricken state, she started Garibi Hatao campaign and garnered mass support. Like her father, she too got undisputed support in 1971 elections and came to power again. The same year, her support to free Bangladesh from Pakistan also galvanized her international image. Yet another major event in 1971 elevated Indira’s status quo in the public eye; victory in Indo- Pak war. Also, by 1974 she successfully made India the youngest Nuclear Power country of the world.
Emergency, The Blue Star and The Assassination
When Allahabad High Court probe found Indira of election fraud in 1975 and ordered for her removal from the seat, the then President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed on her advice declared a state of emergency. During 19- months of emergency, Indira magnetic figure attracted displeasure and resentment from common people, pressure and criticism from her own cabinet and opposition as well. In intense pressure, fresh elections were held and she lost elections to Janta party’s Morarji Desai. During Janta Party’s tenure, Indira and her son Sanjay Gandhi were sent to jail but trial gained her public sympathy and support. Amidst numerous political permutation and combination, Indira was called for support by Chaudhary Charan Singh who was appointed as the Prime Minister by the President after Desai resigned in 1979. The political uproar reached its peak when Indira withdrew her support from Charan Singh and contested fresh elections in 1980.
Indira came to power yet again but this time with more vigor and stable government. The insurgent movements were rising during early 80s in the states of Punjab and J & K.
The situation in Punjab triggered when Indira oblivious to the consequences ordered Operation Blue Star in 1984 to end the upsurge of Khalistan movement advocated by Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale, who that time had taken refuge in Harmandar Sahib, popularly known as Golden Temple. He was besieged in the complex of Golden temple, holy shrine of Sikh.
The repercussion of Operation Blue Star was the assassination of Indira Gnadhi by her two Sikh bodyguards at her residence on early October 31, 1984 morning. This resulted in the outburst by the people and anti- Sikh riots plagued the nation, killing number of people especially in the state of New Delhi and Punjab.
Rajiv: The Prince Charming
Rajiv Gandhi became the immediate successor of PM’s seat after the assassination of Indira Gandhi. He also won the year-end elections by setting a remarkable victory in the Lok Sabha attaining 401 seats out of 508. During his tenure, India went through path breaking economic and Information Technology changes.
He too got trapped in the politics of the politics and took religious stands to please majority groups by ordering the reopening of Ram Janambhoomi Temple and sometimes to satisfy minority by overruling Supreme Court’s judgement on Shah Bano’s shariat case. Religious debates have not even ended with irregularities in the financial dealings of Bofors came into light and alleged the Rajiv Gandhi received heavy kickbacks out of these Defense deals. His honest image of the progressive Prime Minister was miserably tattered. Adding to the chaos, during the same time Indian Peacekeeping force sent by Rajiv Gandhi to Sri Lanka to keep a check on LTTE faced a major defeat.
Age of New Electoral: Religion, Caste and Money
In 1989, Rajiv had to sit in opposition in the Lok Sabha by poorly losing the polls. BJP, Janta Dal and Left came together to form the coalition government and V P Singh became the Prime Minister. Singh’s government in an attempt to implement the reservation policy as recommended by the Mandal Commission suffered significant aftermath with BJP withdrawing its support and forcing V P Singh out of power within one year.
It was now the time of religion based politics to come in forefront. BJP joined hands with RSS- VHP and L K Advani led BJP designed and executed Ram Rath Yatra in early 90s propagating national integration with openly promising the building of Ram Mandir. In 1991, the nations’ focus shifted with the sudden assassination of Rajiv Gandhi during a campaign in Tamil Nadu by LTTE human-bomb. But with time, the Ram Mandir issue activated again and this time with great violence and bloodshed. Thousands of kar sevaks demolished Babri Masjid in December 1992 and vengeance of it was taken by the masterminds of Mumbai blasts in 1993.
(Un) lucky 13 and Atal Behari Vajpayee
1996 Elections changed the political atmosphere entirely. BJP became the party with maximum seats in the Lok Sabha and Vajyapee saw the light of the day for merely 13 days as he failed to attain support from other political parties. Yet another, coalition government came and saw United Front’s H D Deve Gowda and I K Gujral as Prime Ministers for two years. Congress externally supported United Front but withdrew its support as soon as the involvement of DMK members in Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination was made.
Again, BJP came to power along with 13 parties forming the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Atal Behari Vajyapee won the hearts of many by his popular slogan Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan and Jai Vigyan when under his leadership; India conducted five successful nuclear tests at Pokharan, Rajasthan. Yet again, his 13 months government dissolved due to withdrawal of AIADMK. Vajypayee got his third chance as a Prime Minister, this time for the full term.
Year 1999 to 2004 tenure saw major high and low points of his governance. When he was making the historic trip to Lahore to meet then Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to build friendly relationships with Pakistan, Pakistan supported armed infiltrators were crossing Line of Control to capture Indian troops. However, like under Shastri and Indira’s reign Vijay Diwas was celebrated. Vajyapee another crises came when Indian Airlines flight IC- 814 which was coming from Kathmandu to New Delhi was hijacked by militants and demanded the release of three terrorists. The delay in the release of terrorists to free passengers resulted in criticism from opposition and people. Finally, terrorists were released and passengers were brought home safely.
Bhoj earthquake in 2001, attack on parliament on December 13, 2001, Godhara riots in February 2002 and few months later Gujarat’s Akshardham hijack gave difficult times to Vajpayee’s government. Yet, he managed to revive Indo- US relationship by making Bill Clinton’s India’s visit fruitful and laying the foundation for future ties.
Congress Comes Again
Sonia Gandhi became the leader of opposition in 1999. Her foreign birth, lack of fluency in Hindi or any other regional language gave advantage to her opponents but surprisingly NDA lost 2004 polls and United Progressive Alliance was invited to form the government. Sonia Gandhi step aside and made ways for Dr. Manmohan Singh to take the government ahead.
Helm of political affairs brought new and difficult challenges for Congress, which came to power after years of waiting. Natural calamities back to back have made the path thorny for UPA to survive. In December 2004, within six months of coming in power, Congress saw Tsunami which killed more than 10,000 people and left hundreds homeless starving to hunger. In 2006, Kashmir felt earthquake and the place got highly affected. Terrorist attacks in Mumbai local trains in 2006, serial blasts in New Delhi and Hyderabad, German Bakery blasts in Pune and 26/ 11 raised questions on the security concerns of the state.
Counter Public Sphere
In 2009, Congress successfully came to power with majority win but has been facing the charges of corruption and political scandals like never before since then. Corruption in Commonwealth Games 2010 held in New Delhi, 2G spectrum, Adarsh Society, Coalgate has provoked the passive citizens to seek answers and debate.
The then marginalized groups have now emerged as the active citizenry and is challenging the nationalist elite model of governance to change into more radical social form where people are not just a cog in the machine. The Civil Society has finally taken the baton of leading the country and giving competition to political structures heavily. August 2011 witnessed Anna Hazare’s fast until death to bring Jan Lokpal Bill gaining mass support and mass protest against the establishment. Subaltern Public Sphere is giving a new and complex challenge to the state machinery. Though, the success of Civil Society in the political framework is yet to unfold.
