Information AboutModern India |
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After Nehru's death, Lal Bahadur Shastri reigned briefly, dying at the end of the 1965-1966 war with Pakistan. Indira Gandhi continued the Militarisation that resulted from India's defeat to China in 1962. India's military involvement in Bangladesh and its first Nuclear test at Pokhran mark her policies as interventionist yet ambiguous. Her domestic policies resulted in political fissures that brought forth caste and religion-based parties and their accompanying political and social tensions.In 1975 , Prime Minister she declared an Emergency . Emergency was finally revoked only in 1977 . In October 1984 , Gandhi was assassinated by her bodyguards, affiliated to a Sikh separatist group, resulting in anti-Sikh riots in Delhi. Her son Rajiv Gandhi succeeded her and was assassinated by agents of the LTTE in 1991. The destruction of the Babri Masjid in 1992 also resulted in religious strife in some parts of India. In the 90's and onward, coalition politics became the norm, with the hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) becoming the first non- Congress party to complete its term. Under its leadership, India undertook a second Nuclear Test and effected a cautious rapproachement with arch-rival Pakistan. In the recent elections, Sonia Gandhi , the daughter-in-law of Indira Gandhi made an unexpected political comeback, bringing the Congress Party back into Government. |
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