History of India . An overview : The people of India have had a continuous
civilization since 2500 B.C., when the inhabitants of the Indus River valley developed
an urban culture based on commerce and sustained by agricultural trade. This civilization
declined around 1500 B.C., probably due to ecological changes.
During the second millennium B.C., pastoral, Aryan-speaking tribes migrated from
the northwest into the subcontinent. As they settled in the middle Ganges River
valley, they adapted to antecedent cultures.
The political map of ancient and medieval India was made up of myriad kingdoms with
fluctuating boundaries. In the 4th and 5th centuries A.D., northern India was unified
under the Gupta Dynasty. During this period, known as India's Golden Age, Hindu
culture and political administration reached new heights.
Islam spread across the Indian subcontinent over a period of 500 years. In the 10th
and 11th centuries, Turks and Afghans invaded India and established sultanates in
Delhi. In the early 16th century, descendants of Genghis Khan swept across the Khyber
Pass and established the Mughal (Mogul) Dynasty, which lasted for 200 years. From
the 11th to the 15th centuries, southern India was dominated by Hindu Chola and
Vijayanagar Dynasties. During this time, the two systems--the prevailing Hindu and
Muslim--mingled, leaving lasting cultural influences on each other.
The first British outpost in South Asia was established in 1619 at Surat on the
northwestern coast. Later in the century, the East India Company opened permanent
trading stations at Madras, Bombay, and Calcutta, each under the protection of native
rulers.
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The British expanded their influence from these footholds
until, by the 1850s, they controlled most of present-day India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
In 1857, a rebellion in north India led by mutinous Indian soldiers caused the British
Parliament to transfer all political power from the East India Company to the Crown.
Great Britain began administering most of India directly while controlling the rest
through treaties with local rulers.
In the late 1800s, the first steps were taken toward self-government in British
India with the appointment of Indian councilors to advise the British viceroy and
the establishment of provincial councils with Indian members; the British subsequently
widened participation in legislative councils. Beginning in 1920, Indian leader
Mohandas K. Gandhi transformed the Indian National Congress political party into
a mass movement to campaign against British colonial rule. The party used both parliamentary
and nonviolent resistance and non-cooperation to achieve independence.
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On August 15, 1947, India became a dominion within the Commonwealth, with Jawaharlal
Nehru as Prime Minister. Enmity between Hindus and Muslims led the British to partition
British India, creating East and West Pakistan, where there were Muslim majorities.
India became a republic within the Commonwealth after promulgating its constitution
on January 26, 1950.
After independence, the Congress Party, the party of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal
Nehru, ruled India under the influence first of Nehru and then his daughter and
grandson, with the exception of two brief periods in the 1970s and 1980s.
Prime Minister Nehru governed India until his death in 1964. He was succeeded by
Lal Bahadur Shastri, who also died in office. In 1966, power passed to Nehru's daughter,
Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister from 1966 to 1977. In 1975, beset with deepening political
and economic problems, Mrs. Gandhi declared a state of emergency and suspended many
civil liberties. Seeking a mandate at the polls for her policies, she called for
elections in 1977, only to be defeated by Moraji Desai, who headed the Janata Party,
an amalgam of five opposition parties.
In 1979, Desai's Government crumbled. Charan Singh formed an interim government,
which was followed by Mrs. Gandhi's return to power in January 1980. On October
31, 1984, Mrs. Gandhi was assassinated, and her son, Rajiv, was chosen by the Congress
(I)--for "Indira"--Party to take her place. His government was brought down in 1989
by allegations of corruption and was followed by V.P. Singh and then Chandra Shekhar.
In the 1989 elections, although Rajiv Gandhi and Congress won more seats in the
1989 elections than any other single party, he was unable to form a government with
a clear majority. The Janata Dal, a union of opposition parties, was able to form
a government with the help of the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
on the right and the communists on the left. This loose coalition collapsed in November
1990, and the government was controlled for a short period by a breakaway Janata
Dal group supported by Congress (I), with Chandra Shekhar as Prime Minister. That
alliance also collapsed, resulting in national elections in June 1991.
On May 27, 1991, while campaigning in Tamil Nadu on behalf of Congress (I), Rajiv
Gandhi was assassinated, apparently by Tamil extremists from Sri Lanka. In the elections,
Congress (I) won 213 parliamentary seats and put together a coalition, returning
to power under the leadership of P.V. Narasimha Rao. This Congress-led government,
which served a full 5-year term, initiated a gradual process of economic liberalization
and reform, which has opened the Indian economy to global trade and investment.
India's domestic politics also took new shape, as traditional alignments by caste,
creed, and ethnicity gave way to a plethora of small, regionally based political
parties.
The final months of the Rao-led government in the spring of 1996 were marred by
several major political corruption scandals, which contributed to the worst electoral
performance by the Congress Party in its history. The Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) emerged from the May 1996 national elections as the single-largest
party in the Lok Sabha but without enough strength to prove a majority on the floor
of that Parliament. Under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the BJP coalition
lasted in power 13 days. With all political parties wishing to avoid another round
of elections, a 14-party coalition led by the Janata Dal emerged to form a government
known as the United Front, under the former Chief Minister of Karnataka, H.D. Deve
Gowda. His government lasted less than a year, as the leader of the Congress Party
withdrew his support in March 1997. Inder Kumar Gujral replaced Deve Gowda as the
consensus choice for Prime Minister of a 16-party United Front coalition.
In November 1997, the Congress Party in India again withdrew support for the United
Front. New elections in February 1998 brought the BJP the largest number of seats
in Parliament--182--but fell far short of a majority. On March 20, 1998, the President
inaugurated a BJP-led coalition government with Vajpayee again serving as Prime
Minister. On May 11 and 13, 1998, this government conducted a series of underground
nuclear tests forcing U.S. President Clinton to impose economic sanctions on India
pursuant to the 1994 Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Act.
In April 1999, the BJP-led coalition government fell apart, leading to fresh elections
in September. The National Democratic Alliance-a new coalition led by the BJP-gained
a majority to form the government with Vajpayee as Prime Minister in October 1999
