Modern-day India
From Free net encyclopedia
Contents |
Socialism
Jawaharlal Nehru's only child, Indira Gandhi, in her first few years in power in the late sixties and early seventies, set out many of the contours of Modern India by nationalising banks in order to gain control of the mobilisation of credit, and placing the elimination of poverty as an end in itself. She greatly enhanced her country's support for Environmental Protection, setting India apart from many other developing countries of the time. In 1971, witnessing the on-going civil war east of its borders, India covertly supported the Bangladeshi independence movement (Bangladesh Liberation War), resulting in the war, which led to independence of Bangladesh from Pakistani occupation.
Democracy
Indira Gandhi greatly affected India's brand of democracy by two actions of hers. The first, and perhaps the more positive, was her rebellion against the leaders of the old Congress Party and her direct appeal to the people of India in the elections held shorty thereafter, thereby undermining the socially hierarchical basis of the Congress Party. The long term implications of this was the creation of many regional and caste-based parties in the years ahead, thereby increasing the representation of historically unrepresented peoples in present-day parties such as the Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party.
Her second action was her turning of Democracy into a cause celebre for millions of Indians by imposing Martial Law in an effort to stave off a conviction in a High Court. The struggle against Martial Law (or Emergency as it was called in India) etched Democracy into Indians' most deeply held values.
In 1975, as Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi declared a State of Emergency, thereby freezing all civil rights. Thousands of political dissidents and civilians were jailed without trial, and Emergency was finally revoked only in 1977 when Indira miscalculated the level of popular support she enjoyed and called a snap election in an effort to catch her rivals off-guard and regain democratic legitimacy.
Blowback
In the early 1980s, she quietly supported or tolerated movements ranging from Tamil and Punjabi Nationalism to Christian secessionism and Hindu Nationalism in an effort to reach out to what she may have felt were the directions the electorate were taking. Increasingly the Indian state grew reactionary in dealing with the growth of these movement, repressing them intermittently, as it felt threatened. As time showed, this trend set by her (and followed by governments for many years afterwards) largely backfired badly on the Indian State. Punjab (with Sikh insurrectionists), the North-East in Mizoram and Nagaland (with Christian insurgents) and the North in Kashmir (with Muslim movements) all threatened insurgency and secession from the Indian nation. Across the country, right-wing Hindu parties like the Bharatiya Janata Party and provincial groups (like the Maratha Shiv Sena) gained political legitimacy. Sri Lanka turned into a battleground that consumed one Sri Lankan President and one Indian Prime Minister, her son Rajiv Gandhi.
In October 1984, Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her bodyguards, affiliated to a Sikh separatist group, resulting in anti-Sikh riots in Delhi. The destruction of the Babri Masjid in 1992 Ayodhya was an event that preceded many years of religious strife in several parts of India.
The 90's
The last event of the Indira Gandhi era in Indian politics was seen as the time when, in the late 90’s, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) became the first non-Congress party to hold central Indian government for a full-term with the support of regional parties. Under its leadership, India undertook a Nuclear Test, ending the policy of Nuclear Ambiguity. It also attempted the slow reversal of the Nationalisation process by privatising some state-owned corporations. Ironically the BJP, a Hindu Nationalist party, unhindered by the Congress' secular yet strident Indian Nationalism started a continuing rapproachement with Pakistan.