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Republic of India भारत गणराज्य Timeline: Cherry, Plum, and Chrysanthemum
OTL equivalent: India (without Tamil Nadu, Kerala, most of Andhra Pradesh, southern Karnataka, Puducherry, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands), Nepal and Bhutan | ||||||
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Motto: सत्यमेव जयते (Sanskrit) ("Truth Alone Triumphs") |
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Anthem: Subh Sukh Chain |
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Location of India
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Capital | New Delhi | |||||
Other cities | Mumbai | |||||
Official languages | Hindi | |||||
Other languages | English; Bengali; Gujarati; Punjabi; Sanskrit; Sindhi; Urdu; Nepalese | |||||
Ethnic groups | Indo-Aryans; Northeast Indians; Dravidians; Adivasi | |||||
Religion | Hinduism; Buddhism; Islam; Sikhism; Christianity; Jainism | |||||
Demonym | Indian | |||||
Government | Federal constitutional semi-presidential republic | |||||
- | President | Arvind Kejriwal | ||||
- | Prime Minister | |||||
Legislature | Diet of India | |||||
- | Upper house | Rajya Sabha | ||||
- | Lower house | Lok Sabha | ||||
Establishment | ||||||
- | Independence from the United Kingdom | August 15, 1947 | ||||
Population | ||||||
- | estimate | 1,158,894,842 | ||||
Currency | Indian rupee (INR ) |
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Time zone | IST (UTC+5.5) | |||||
Internet TLD | .in | |||||
Calling code | +91 |
India (Hindi: भारत Bhārat), officially the Republic of India (Hindi: भारत गणराज्य Bhārat Gaṇarājya), is a country in South Asia in the Indian sub-continent. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country with over 1.1 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world. India is bordered by Pakistan both to the west and east; Tibet to the north-east; China and Burma to the east; and the Deccan to the south. India is a member of the Commonwealth Confederation.
India is a multicultural, multilingual, and multiethnic society. It is the birthplace of four major world religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. Since 1947, India's nominal per capita income climbed from US$64 to US$1,498 per year, and its literacy rate increased from 16.6% to 74%. From being a comparatively destitute country in 1951, India has become a fast-growing major economy and a hub for information technology services, with an expanding middle class. It has the largest economy among South Asian countries.
It has a space program that includes multiple extraterrestrial missions that are either planned or accomplished. Indian films, music, and spiritual teachings are becoming increasingly important in world community. India is a nuclear-weapons state with substantial military spending. Despite economic growth during recent decades, India, however, continues to face socio-economic challenges. India contains the largest number of people living below the World Bank's international poverty line. India also emits about 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions, making it one of the largest air pollution producing countries in the world.
Politics and government[]

Rashtrapati Bhavan, the official residence of the President of India.
According to its constitution, India is a sovereign, socialist, secular, and democratic republic with a parliamentary system of government that assures its citizens justice, equality, and liberty, and endeavors to promote fraternity. It establishes India as a federal union with one central government and state governments. The central government is divided into three branches, consisting of the executive, legislative and judicial powers. India's form of government, traditionally described as "quasi-federal" with a strong central government and weak states, has grown increasingly federal since the late 1990s as a result of political, economic, and social changes.
The President of India (राष्ट्रपति Rāṣhṭrapati) is the head of state, chief executive and commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. The President nominates the Prime Minister of India (प्रधानमंत्री Pradhānamantrī), who must be confirmed by the Lok Sabha. Since 2002, the President is elected directly by universal suffrage for a five-year term, with a term limit of two terms. Unlike other former British colonies, India employs a semi-presidential system in which the President is not a mere symbol of state or ceremonial figure, but rather the highest position in the country constitutionally and politically.

Sansad Bhavan, the seat of the Diet of India, seen from Rajpath
The Diet of India is the bicameral parliament which all members are elected for five-year terms. Operating under a Westminster-style parliamentary system, it comprises an upper house called the Rajya Sabha and a lower house called the Lok Sabha. The Rajya Sabha is consisted of 245 members which are elected indirectly by the land and union territorial legislatures in numbers proportional to their land's share of the national population. The Lok Sabha is consisted of 545 members which are elected directly by popular vote; they represent single-member constituencies.
India has eight recognized national parties, including the Indian Nationalist Party (भारतीय राष्ट्रवादी पार्टी Bhāratīya Rāṣṭravādī Pārṭī, BRP) and the Liberal Democratic Party (उदारवादी लोकतांत्रिक दल Udāravādī Lokatāntrik Dal, ULD), as well as more than 40 regional parties. The BRP is considered center-left in Indian political culture with left-wing nationalism as its defining ideology, while the ULD with national liberalism as its defining tenet is considered as center-right. Both major parties are secular in nature, although minor religious parties do exist and grow extensively for the past decades. With over one billion people, India currently is the world's most populous democracy.

The Supreme Court of India, the highest judicial authority in the country.
India has a three-tier unitary independent judiciary comprising the supreme court, headed by the Chief Justice of India, 25 high courts, and a large number of trial courts. The supreme court has original jurisdiction over cases involving fundamental rights and over disputes between states and the central government and has appellate jurisdiction over the high courts. It has the power to both strike down union or state laws which contravene the constitution, and invalidate any government action it deems unconstitutional.
Administrative divisions[]
India is a federal union comprising 27 lands and 6 union territories. All lands, as well as the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and the National Capital Territory of Delhi, have elected legislatures and governments following the Westminster system of governance. The remaining four union territories are directly ruled by the central government through appointed administrators. In 1956, under the Lands Newsetting Set, lands were reorganized on a linguistic basis. There are over a quarter of a million local government bodies at city, town, block, district and village levels.
History[]
Revival of Indian Buddhism (1283–1482)[]
Spread of Theravada Buddhism in Assam (1283–1324)[]
Due to multitude of factors, such as the collapse of Buddhist empires, the loss of royal patronages, the coming of Islam from the Turk invasions, and the revival of Brahmanical Hinduism led to the decline of Buddhism in the Indian subcontinent by the late 12th century. Other than the certain places such as Ceylon and Himalaya, the religion was virtually extinct in the region.[1] Outside of India, however, the religion flourished; Mahayana school became dominant in East Asia, while Theravada school became widespread in Ceylon and continental Southeast Asia. The conversion of King Anawrahta of Bagan to Theravada Buddhism by monk Shin Arahan in 1056 preserved the school, making western Burma a center of Theravada faith.
In 1115, Shin Uttarajīva realigned Burmese Buddhism from Shin Arahan's Conjeveram-Thaton school to the Mahavihara school, resulting to a schism between two groups. While the latter group eventually dominated Burma, the former did not yield easily and lasted there for almost 200 years. Conjeveram-Thaton monks eventually moved northward and reached Charaideo, Ahom Kingdom in 1288. King Subinphaa of Ahom converted to Theravada Buddhism shortly after the arrival of fleeing monks. In 1291, the king sent religious mission, led by monk Prajnananda, to the court of Meitei king, Moilampa, in Kangla, and later to Kamatapur, the capital of Kamata Kingdom. This conversion was important for the Assamese rulers since it marks their independence from the influences of Muslim sultanates around them.
Karnat rule in Bihar and Nepal (1324–1429)[]
This religious revival reached its zenith after the Karnat king of Tirhut, Harisimhadeva, converted to Theravada Buddhism in 1324. In that year, the Chagatai Mongols invaded Simraungadh, the capital of Tirhut in the present-day Bihar-Nepal border region, several times. According to the local legend, Harisimhadeva had dreamed of meeting with Lord Buddha several weeks before the final invasion, asking him to invite a visiting Ahom monk named Parabhavana to his court. After got invited, the monk advised Harisimhadeva to make a pilgrimage to Bodh Gaya if he successfully ousted the invaders permanently and, in return, the king will be granted a greater realm by the heavens.
Harisimhadeva converted from Vaishnavism to Buddhism after ousting the Mongol forces and changed his name to Chakravarti. It was said that the king became a sincere Buddhist believer during his later years. After visiting Bodh Gaya in 1325, Chakravarti decided to expel the Mongol vassals out of Bihar and to establish the Karnats as successors of the Buddhist Pala Empire. The works to restore the ruined Mahabodhi Temple began in 1335 by Chakravarti's son, Aryananda. Aryananda, who has married widowed Queen-Regent of Bhaktapur, Nayak Devi, in 1327, expanded the rule of Karnat Dynasty into the Kathmandu Valley. Theravada Buddhism was spread within the Karnat realm which consisted of present-day southern Nepal, Bihar and Jharkhand.
Although the Karnats adhered to Theravada faith, there were also syncretic Hindu-Buddhist practices during Jnananda's reign (1382-1395). Vajrayana rituals remained to be practiced in the Kathmandu Valley, especially among the Newar people. After the death of Jnananda, his sons divided and jointly ruled the kingdom, until his last surviving son, Nandaputramalla, ruled on his own from 1408 to 1428; his son, Yakshamalla (reigned ca. 1428-82), continued as a sole ruler. The Karnat heartland was conquered by the Li in 1429, leaving only a rump state in the valley. In 1482, Yakshamalla's sons divided the valley into three domains (Bhaktapur, Kathmandu and Lalitpur). Other Karnat clans in Bihar were given high positions within the Li state: the Gandhavariya in western Bihar, while the Purvavamsa in the eastern half.
Chagatai rule in Hindustan (1299–1451)[]
Li rule in Hindustan (1373–1565)[]
Mughal Empire era (1526–1760)[]
Fragmentation of the Mughals and early European influence (1690–1858)[]
British Raj (1858–1947)[]
Industrialization and social reforms (1858–1905)[]

New Crowns for Old, a cartoon depicting Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli offers Queen Victoria the imperial crown of India.
The EIC played a major role in suppressing the 1857 rebellion. Nevertheless, the rebellion shook the foundations of Company Bahadur rule in India. Afterward the British government took control away from the EIC. They strengthened and expanded its infrastructure in India via the court system, legal procedures, and statutes. The Indian imperial government invested heavily in canals and irrigation systems in addition to railways, telegraphy, roads and ports. However, the rush of technology and the commercialization of agriculture in the second half of the 19th century was marked by economic setbacks. Large-scale famines triggered widespread social discontents. In aftermath of the Great Famine of 1876–1878, the Indian Famine Codes, the earliest famine prevention measures, were instituted.
With industrialization and education sponsored by the colonial government, a new middle class arose. This middle class became particularly aware of their political status, especially after Canada became an associated state of the United Kingdom in 1867. The rediscovery of India's indigenous history by several European and Indian scholars also fed into the rise of nationalism among Indians. Educated Indians also began to campaign for expansion of political rights due to discrimination and slow social reforms by the colonial authority. On December 28, 1885, these educated Indians founded the Indian National Congress in Bombay.

Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott, two of the founding members of the Theosophical Society.
In 1875, Ceylon experienced a Buddhist revival partly due to the efforts by the Theosophical Society members, such as Madame Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott. Both were heavily influenced by Buddhist cosmology, especially the Mahayana one, and became Buddhists in 1880. During his time in Ceylon, Olcott strove to revive Buddhism within the region. He sponsored the creation of Buddhist educational institutions to combat the spread of Christianity and encourage pride and interest in Buddhism among the island's Sinhalese population. This combined with the need of social reforms and restoration of Mahabodhi Temple in the 1880s led to a renewed interest on Buddhism in India.
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Anagarika Dharmapala (1864–1933). | Mahasiddha Mahabrahma (1867–1939). |
A young Sinhalese named Anagarika Dharmapala, who had worked together with Blavatsky and Olcott, toiled to revive Indian Buddhism after found out the Mahabodhi Temple had been appropriated by the Hindus in 1891. He travelled widely and organized the Buddhists in Assam, Bihar, and Bengal to purify Buddhism from heterodox elements in accordance with the Theravada tradition. Dharmapala's contemporary, Mahasiddha Mahabrahma, popularized Buddhist dhyana practices in Bengal. Formerly a disciple of Hindu mystic Ramakrishna, he renounced Advaitin philosophy after a fateful meeting with Chinese ascetic Xuyun in 1890 and worked together with Olcott to study Buddhist sutras, leading to the reconstruction of Indian Mahayana faith.
Similar with the Buddhists in Ceylon, the Hindu religious leaders in British India also sought to revitalize their own religion. In 1875, the Arya Samaj was founded to proselytize Hinduism by emphasizing the authority of the Vedas, rejecting idol worship, combating the caste system, untouchability and child marriage and promoting monotheism. In 1897, the Ramakrishna Mission was established by Swami Vivekananda, another disciple of Ramakrishna. It focused on the synthesis of different religious traditions, the promotion of education, social service, and the non-dualistic philosophy of Advaita Vedanta.
The rise of nationalist movements (1905–1914)[]

George Curzon, Baron Curzon of Kedleston (1859–1925), the Viceroy of India from 1899 to 1905.
Lord Curzon, the viceroy of India (1899–1905), pursued energetic reforms, including improving civil service, lowering taxes and addressing many social and economic problems the Indians faced. However, he also divided Bengal into Muslim-majority Eastern Bengal and Assam and Hindu-majority West Bengal, sowing the seeds of division among the Indians. Bengali Hindus, especially its middle class who opposed the partition, protested fervidly and decided to boycott British goods as well as any Indian who used foreign goods instead of natively produced ones. This movement, called the Swadeshi movement, led by a Congress leader, Surendranath Banerjee and became the nucleus of Indian nationalist movement.
Muslims, who were already threatened by the aggressive conversion movement by the Arya Samaj in the late 19th century, found themselves politically benefited by the partition. However, as the Swadeshi movement had glorified the Hindu history of the region, they demanded separate electorates for Muslims in the colonial legislature. This led, in December 1906, to the founding of the All-India Muslim League in Dacca with Aga Khan III as its honorary president. The Indian Councils Act 1909, known as the Morley-Minto Reforms, gave Indians limited roles in the central and provincial legislatures. Upper-class Indians, rich landowners and businessmen were favoured. Separate electorates were established for Muslims and Hindus, while the Buddhists were not.

King George V and Queen Mary at the Delhi Durbar of 1911. George V was the only Emperor of India to be present at his own Delhi Durbar.
To safeguard Buddhist interests against Hindu and Muslim politics equally, Saryazona Mahendrasakka, Kripasaran Mahasthabir, Anagarika Dharmapala and Mahasiddha Mahabrahma founded the Sarvadeshik Bauddha Samiti in 1910. It demanded Assam and Bihar to be separate provinces on cultural and religious basis and restoration of ancient Buddhist temples. With many agitations by the Hindus, the partition was rescinded in 1911. King George V announced at Delhi Durbar on December 12, 1911 that the Bengali-speaking regions would be reunited, while Assam, Bihar and Orissa were separated. It was seen as a triumph for both the Hindus in Bengal as well as the Buddhists who were now in majority in Assam and Bihar, but a shock for the Muslims who saw the British compromising Muslim interests.
This period saw an increase in the activities of revolutionary groups. In Bengal, the Anushilan Samiti, a secret society founded in 1902, challenged British rule by engaging in bombings, assassinations, and politically motivated violence. It was involved in a number of noted incidents of revolutionary attacks against British interests and administration in India, including early attempts to assassinate British Raj officials. In 1913, overseas Punjabis founded the Ghadar Party and smuggled arms into India, aiming to incite armed revolution by the Indian troops to mutiny against the British for Indian independence. However, the British authorities were able to crush violent rebels swiftly, partly because the mainstream of educated Indian politicians opposed violent revolution.
World War I (1914–1919)[]

Sir Frederick Stanley Maude leads the British Indian Army into Baghdad, 1917.
World War I turned out to be a turning point for the imperial relations between Britain and India. The British Indian Army, which consisted of 1.4 million Indian and British soldiers, would fight in the war, and their involvement would have a wider cultural impact. News of Indian soldiers fighting alongside British soldiers and dying in battle, as well as soldiers from countries like Canada, Australia and Patagonia, would spread to distant parts of the globe via newsprint and the new medium of radio. As a result, India's international prominence would increase and maintain its growth throughout the 1920s. Among other things, it was to result in India joining the League of Nations as a founding member in 1920 under its own name.
At home, the revolutionary activities were found its support from the British enemies: Germany and the Ottoman Empire. Germany worked with the Ghadarites in planning to foment unrest across the subcontinent and trigger a Pan-Indian mutiny in the British Indian Army from Punjab to Singapore. It is known today as the Hindu-German conspiracy. While the mutinies were indeed happening in 1915, the British successfully crushed them. The Germans also tried to draw Afghanistan into the war on the side of the Central Powers. In the spring of 1915, an Indo-German expedition was sent to Afghanistan. Led by the exiled Indian prince Raja Mahendra Pratap, this mission sought to invite the Afghan Emir Habibullah Khan to break with Britain and invade British India.

Mahendra Pratap (centre) with the German and Turkish delegates in Kabul, 1915.
In December 1915, the Indian members of the mission founded the Provisional Government of India. Pratap became its president, while Maulana Barkatullah served as the prime minister. As the Central Powers offensives at the Middle East faltered, Germany could not establishing a direct land route via Persia through Afghanistan, therefore decided to abandon the mission in 1916, but the Indians stay behind. After the Russian revolution, Pratap tried to establish relations with the Bolsheviks throughout 1918-1919 and visited Berlin in 1918, pressing for a joint Soviet-German offensive to Afghanistan. When the tide of war turned to the Allied side, the British successfully pressured Afghanistan to expel the Provisional Government out of Kabul in 1919.

Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948), pictured in 1931.
The year 1915 also saw the return of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi to India. Gandhi had made himself known for his civil liberties protests on behalf of the Indians in South Africa. He, along with young Rajendra Prasad, led a farmer uprising in Bihar in 1917 against the forced below-price sales of indigo plants to the British planters. It became Gandhi's first satyagraha, a form of non-violent civil resistance, at India and was known as the Champaran Satyagraha. When the protest succeed to achieve a settlement between the farmers and the British planters, Gandhi rose to be a sort of spiritual leader for the Indian nationalist activists. He was soon referred by Rabrindanath Tagore as "Mahatma" due to his role in the agitation.
On March 18, 1919, the Imperial Council in Delhi had passed the Rowlatt Act on March 18, 1919. It gave powers to the police to arrest any person without any reason. The passage of the act sparked large-scale political unrest throughout India. Gandhi, among other Indian leaders, was extremely critical of the act, while Madan Mohan Malaviya, Mazarul Haque and Muhammad Ali Jinnah resigned from the Imperial Council in protest against the act. In Punjab the protest movement was very strong, and on April 13, 1919, people in Amritsar protested against the act, which resulted in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre as the colonial army began shooting at the unarmed protesters without warning. This incident dissolved hopes of Indian home rule and opened a rift that could not be bridged short of complete self-rule.
Satyagraha movement (1920–1939)[]

Gandhi (centre) on the famous Salt Satyagraha to defy the colonial salt tax laws, 1930.
In 1920, Gandhi began his campaign of non-cooperation and reorganized the Congress, transforming it into a mass movement and opening its membership to even the poorest Indians. At its annual session in Lahore, the Indian National Congress, under the presidency of Jawaharlal Nehru, adopted Purna Swaraj, demanding for complete independence. Civil disobedience led by Gandhi was culminated in 1930 with the Salt Satyagraha, in which thousands of Indians defied the tax on salt, by marching to the sea and making their own salt by evaporating seawater. Although, many, including Gandhi, were arrested, the British government eventually gave in.
The rise of Gandhian politics also influenced the Indian Buddhists. Several prominent leaders of the untouchable caste in Hinduism, or the Dalits, such as B. R. Ambedkar and Swami Achootanand, viewed the Congress as "Brahmin-dominated" and believed colonial education system brought a better possibility for the Dalits to climb up the social ladder that had been limited to them under Hinduism, thus opposing the non-cooperation movement. They sought an alternative religion for the Untouchables. Mahabrahma, who had taught that Mahayana doctrine as "reformed Hinduism" rather than its antithesis during the 1920s, attracted Achootanand and his supporters in Uttar Pradesh who publicly converted to Mahayana Buddhism in 1929.

An admiring East End crowd gathers to witness the arrival of Gandhi during the 1931 Round Table Conference.
Per recommendations of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, a leader of Muslim League, to Viceroy Lord Irwin and Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald, the Round Table Conferences were held between 1930 and 1932 to discuss constitutional reforms in India. Gandhi, despite initially distanced himself and the Congress from the talks, was invited by the British government along with other Indian leaders, such as Jinnah, Mahabrahma, and Ambedkar, to London. When Ambedkar proposed for a separate electorate for the Dalits, Gandhi rejected it as he believed that separate electorates would divide Hindu community. After returned to India, Gandhi started a new satyagraha and was eventually imprisoned.

Ambedkar called the untouchables to abandon Hinduism during a public meeting at Yeola, Bombay Presidency, October 13, 1935.
During Gandhi's imprisonment, the British granted the Buddhists and the Dalits their own electorates, known as the Communal Award in 1932. In protest, Gandhi started a fast-unto-death while in prison, inciting a public outcry and forcing the government to retract separate Dalit electorate. Despite several negotiations and mediations, Ambedkar was very disappointed with Gandhi's rejection to Dalit representation and further disillusioned with Hinduism. Inspired by earlier actions from Achootanand in 1929, Ambedkar called his followers to publicly embrace Buddhism; about 450,000 untouchables converted en masse in 1933 alone. By converting to Buddhism, they would gaining representation through Buddhist electorate rather than the Hindu one.
In 1935, after the Round Table Conferences, Rikesday passed the Government of India Set 1935, which established independent legislatures in all provinces of British India, the creation of a central government incorporating both the British provinces and the princely states, and the protection of Muslim minorities. In the 1937 elections, the INC won victories in six of the ten provinces. INC governments, with wide powers, were formed in these provinces. Ambedkar's party, the Independent Labour Party, formed a coalition government in Assam with the Muslim League and showed strong performances in Bihar and Bombay. The British also separated Burma from British India in 1937 and granted the colony a new constitution calling for a fully elected assembly, with many powers given to the Burmese.
World War II (1939–1945)[]

Subhas Chandra Bose (1897–1966), the first President of India (1947–1966).
Failed re-election of Subhas Chandra Bose, a rising young activist from Bengal, as Congress president in 1939 resulted to a deepening conflict between more radical members of the INC and the party's old guardians, including Gandhi. Representing the radical stream of the INC, Bose was inspired by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's secular nationalism in Turkey in his political outlook. Unlike Gandhi's ahimsa (non-violence), Bose believed that the use of force might necessary to achieve anti-imperialist goals of independent India. After World War II broke in 1939, Bose was confined to house arrest by the British in 1940 for organizing mass protests in Calcutta.
With the outbreak of the war in 1939, the viceroy, Lord Linlithgow, declared war on India's behalf without consulting Indian leaders, leading the Congress provincial ministries to resign in protest. The Muslim League and the Independent Labour Party, in contrast, supported the war effort. As the League grew as a large mass organization by this period, Jinnah now was well positioned to negotiate with the British from a position of power. On March 24, 1940, the League passed the "Lahore Resolution", demanding a separate homeland for the Muslims in the northwest and east. It was opposed by both the INC and the ILP that strongly opposed to having any religious state.
In January 1941, Bose escaped to Nazi Germany, via Afghanistan and the USSR. He turned to the Axis Powers for help in gaining India's independence by force, organizing the Legion Freies Indien in Germany and Battaglione Azad Hindoustan in Italy and reconsolidating the Yunnan-based Indian National Army (INA) in southeast Asia in 1943. At home, after the failed Cripps Mission seeking the Indian nationalists' co-operation in the war effort in exchange for dominion status, Gandhi launched the Quit India Movement in August 1942, demanding the immediate withdrawal of the British from India or face nationwide civil disobedience. Thousands were arrested, including Gandhi, Nehru and high-ranking INC leaders, resulting to violent protests across the country.

The British Indian Army during an exchange of fires with the Thais along railway line at Padang Besar, Malaya, 1945.
Along with the Muslims, Hindus not affiliated with the Congress and the Sikhs also typically supported the war. While the regular British Indian army in 1939 included about 220,000 native troops, it expanded tenfold during the war, and small naval and air force units were created. Over two million Indians volunteered for military service. They played a major role in numerous campaigns, especially in the Middle East and North Africa. During the war, the princely states provided 250,000 men for service with the Indian States Forces (ISF). ISF units saw service in Malaya, Burma, North Africa, the Middle East and Italy while detachments served as garrison and internal security troops in India itself.
As the tide of the war turned to the Allies by 1945, Bose's military units in southeast Asia disintegrated quickly. When the Soviet forces advanced to Yunnan, Bose fled from his base in Burma to southwest China, but was captured en route by the British on August 17, 1945. The British court-martialed Bose and other INA officers, but public outrage erupted violently as they saw the INA as fighting for Indian independence. During the trial, mutiny broke out in the Indian Navy, incorporating ships and shore establishments of the navy throughout India from Karachi to Bombay and from Vizag to Calcutta. While Bose potentially faced the death penalty, the British feared for a widespread condemnation following his possible martyrdom and eventually only sentenced him to five years of imprisonment.
Partition of British India (1945–1947)[]

Vallabhbhai Patel (1875–1950), the first Leader of Opposition of India.
After the trial of INA leaders, Subhas' older brother, Sarat, helped by Ramchandra S. Ruikar reorganized the pre-war Forward Bloc in 1945 to bid for Congress presidency replacing Abul Kalam Azad. However, with Gandhi's support, Vallabhbhai Patel commanded the party organization to oppose Sarat's attempt and support Azad's re-election. Allied with the Congress right-wing leaders, Patel refused to be bossed around by the Boses despite their imminent popularity among the party rank and file and the public. Sensing a conspiracy against him and his brother, Sarat, founded the Indian Nationalist Party (BRP) on December 2, 1945.
The elections for provincial legislatures were held between December 1945 and January 1946. Votes in non-Muslim constituencies were split between the BRP and the INC with the former won 31.17% of total seats. On other hand, the Muslim League captured all Muslim constituencies and won 27.37% of total seats. Both the BRP and the League contested heatedly in Bengal where the former won combined 90 seats—75 non-Muslim and 15 Muslim seats—and the latter won 103 out of 119 Muslim seats. No parties secured majority in the Constituent Assembly as the BRP gained 34.89%, the Muslim League 30.64%, the Congress 29.36% and the Communists 2.98% of seats, with the rest (2.13%) went to smaller parties and independents.

Nehru (center) with the Bose brothers, Sarat (left) and Subhas (right), ca. 1938.
Nehru and left-wing Congress members sought to work with the BRP in the central and provincial governments, while Patel stood firm against it. In return, Subhas directed Sarat to support Nehru in leading the interim government in 1946. Patel, nevertheless, was still invited by Nehru to the government in home affairs portfolio to oversee partition process. The BRP also attempted to form coalition government with the Muslim League in Bengal, hoping to prevent the province's partition, but failed after the local League leaders wanted to have Bengal independent by its own, which opposed both by the BRP and the League's national leaders.
With Nehru's lobby, Bose was released by the British on January 25, 1947. As soon as Bose was freed, the BRP representatives in the Bengal Legislative Assembly (Hemantha Kumar Basu) and in the Constituent Assembly (Leela Roy) vacated their seats to stage by-election in order to get him elected to the central legislature. Bose easily won the by-election for BLA with almost 80% of votes and no rival candidate and was elected to the Constituent Assembly on March 1. Despite Bose's presence in the Assembly, his party was unable to reverse the partition process. After long negotiations, final partition plan was agreed on July 1, 1947. India was to be independent as a democratic republic, while Pakistan as a commonwealth realm.

Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964), the first and third Prime Minister of India (1947–1952; 1955–1957).
Under the partition plan, the predominantly Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh areas were assigned to the new India and predominantly Muslim areas to the new nation of Pakistan; the plan included a partition of the Muslim-majority provinces of Punjab and Bengal. Previous proposal of having provinces become separate nations other than India or Pakistan was rejected. In July 1947 representatives from Sindh, East Bengal, Baluchistan, West Punjab and the North West Frontier Province withdrew from the Constituent Assembly to form their own in Karachi in accordance with the plan.
Following reorganization and by-elections after the partition, the Constituent Assembly consisted of 266 members. The BRP gained plurality, but not majority, in the Assembly with 107 seats (40.23%). Bose invited the Communists with 28 seats to form a left-wing government with majority of two. With the creation of Pakistan, the Muslim League was left only 28 representatives in the Indian parliament, making the Congress the second largest parliamentary group. Patel hoped to balance Bose in the legislature and prepared to make the Congress an effective opposition party. Nehru, however, wanted to work with Bose because of their ideological similarities.

The reading of the Indian Declaration of Independence on a session of the Constituent Assembly, August 15, 1947.
On July 18, 1947, the Indian Independence Set was passed by the British Rikesday, creating an independent Republic of India. On August 12, 1947, Bose was elected first President of India. As the Set was put into effect on August 15, the Constituent Assembly of India met before midnight. In this session, Bose read the text of the Indian Declaration of Independence (भारतीय स्वतंत्रता घोषणापत्रर Bhāratīya Svataṃtratā Ghoṣaṇāpatra) as well as his inaugural speech, "Jewel of the Earth" (पृथ्वी का गहना Pṛthvī kā Gahana). Although his name was also invoked by crowds celebrating the occasion next morning, Gandhi refused took part in celebration and instead marked the day with a 24-hour fast, during which he spoke to a crowd in Calcutta, encouraging peace between Hindus and Muslims.
Contemporary India (1947–present)[]
Early years of the Republic (1947–1950)[]

Puran Chand Joshi (1907–1980), the first Minister of Home Affairs of India (1947–1952).
Nehru-Patel differences resulted to a split within the Congress, which vehemently opposed by Gandhi. At the end, Nehru, Jayaprakash Narayan, Lal Bahadur Shastri and other left-wing Congress members formed democratic socialist Congress Labour Party (कांग्रेस मजदूर पार्टी Kāngres Majdūr Pārṭī, CLP) on August 22, 1947. Nehru and other 27 assemblymen now split from the Congress and declared their support to Bose. As a reward, Bose appointed Nehru as prime minister to lead the first government of independent India. With defection of Nehru and other high-ranking members, the Congress became severely weakened in its position as parliamentary opposition.
The CPI, represented by Puran Chand Joshi, was also given home affairs portfolio in the coalition government. Bose directed Joshi to integrate all of the hundreds of princely states to India by any means possible. Unlike Patel, Joshi was hostile to the princes. He pressured the princes to hasten the integration process and abolish local monarchies, earning him the moniker “Red Bismarck.” Assam and Hyderabad saw pro-integration left-wing militias rebelled against local princes and declared “people’s governments” loyal to New Delhi. Joshi also sent the army to Jammu and Kashmir on October 27 and to Junagadh on November 9, 1947 in securing the states from joining Pakistan, resulting to armed conflicts between India and Pakistan in Kashmir until the end of 1948.
On December 12, 1947, at the advice of Communist Party, India became the first country to establish formal diplomatic relations with the Democratic Republic of Burma. It resulted to the official British protest which still fought the Burmese independence movement at that time. India was set to join the Commonwealth Confederation, but was pended until 1949 after this diplomatic incident. Nehru did not wish India to be perceived as a pro-communist nation and discussed with President Bose whether India should approach the United States to balance the Soviet influence in the region. Bose was affirmative and later sent Nehru for major visits to the United States and Canada in October 1949.

The funeral procession of Gandhi on January 31, 1948.
On January 30, 1948, Gandhi was assassinated by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu nationalist linked to the Hindu Mahasabha. Over a million people joined the funeral procession that took over five hours to reach Raj Ghat from Birla house, where he was assassinated. Bose used the assassination to consolidate the authority of the new Indian state. Gandhi's death helped marshal support for Bose-Nehru government, leveraged by the massive outpouring of Hindu expressions of grief for a man who had inspired them for decades. Bose and Nehru used Gandhi's martyrdom as a political weapon to silence all advocates of Hindu nationalism. The government suppressed the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the Muslim National Guards, and the Khaksars, with about 200,000 arrests.
Chaired by Ambedkar, the Constitutional Drafting Committee wrote the Indian constitution between 1947 and 1949. Parliamentary debates occurred on the issues including uniform civil code versus religious personal laws, presidentialism versus parliamentarianism and Hindi as sole official language. After two years of discussions and revisions, the Constitution of the Republic of India was adopted on November 26, 1949 by the Constituent Assembly. It declares India a sovereign, secular, democratic republic, assuring its citizens justice, equality and liberty, and endeavors to promote fraternity. The constitution was put into effect on January 26, 1950, which is now celebrated as the "Constitution Day" in India.
Nationalization and industrialization (1950–1955)[]

Mahendra Pratap (1886–1979), the second Prime Minister of India (1952–1955).
In the 1951-1952 general elections, the BRP won plurality with 205 of 413 seats in the Diet of India, again short two seats from being majority. The CPI's share increased by eight, while the INC lost 27. The CLP, now formally split from the INC, gained 77 seats, making it the second largest party in the Diet. Bose proposed to appoint Nehru again as prime minister, but it was opposed by several BRP legislators who wanted prime minister from their own party. As negotiation between the BRP and CLP failed, Bose appointed veteran revolutionary Mahendra Pratap to form government on April 26, 1952; Nehru continued to serve as foreign minister.
Bose's socialistic economic programs were passed easily by the Diet of India on March 11, 1952. The government's economic policies based on import substitution industrialization on a mixed economic framework where the state-controlled public sector would co-exist with the private sector. The government directed investment primarily into key public sector industries, such as steel, iron, coal, and power, promoting their development with subsidies and protectionist policies. Bose's preference for big state controlled enterprises created a complex system of quantitative regulations, quotas and tariffs, industrial licenses and a host of other controls.

Subhas Chandra Bose among his supporters in Calcutta, 1951.
After India's independence in 1947, Bose also supported local anti-monarchists in Nepal, Bhutan and Sikkim. In 1948, the Sikkim People's Party, led by Kashiraj Pradhan, staged a revolt against Tashi Namgyal, the Chogyal of Sikkim, and established a "people's government" that voted to join India. In 1950, the Nepali Congress Party toppled the Nepalese monarchy and declared Nepal to join India. In Bhutan, however, the situation was more complicated since pro-Indian and pro-Tibetan parties engaged in a civil war between 1948 and 1959. India provided financial and logistic supports for pro-India Bhutan People's Party, which eventually prevailed in 1959 and declared Bhutan to be included as a state of India.
In 1955, the INC put forward motion of no-confidence against Prime Minister Pratap. Pratap's cabinet eventually fell on January 22, 1955 when the CLP and BRP right-wing decided to vote supporting the motion. Nehru and the BRP General Secretary, Ruikar, tried to convince Bose to form government without the Communists' participation. Bose, who respected Pratap as a revolutionary pioneer, saw the motion as a personal opposition against him and believed Nehru and the INC conspired to replace him as President. Bose appointed Nehru as prime minister on March 2, 1955, but the incident led to a deepening rift between Bose and Nehru.

President Bose (right) visited the Borobodur Temple with President Sukarno (left) during after the closing of Bandung Conference, 1955.
India participated in the Bandung Conference on April 18–24, 1955 in Indonesia with Nehru as one of its key organizers. Nehru played a greater part in directing India's foreign policies to be not aligned either with the Americans or the Soviets, emphasizing an independent stance. Along with Nehru, Pratap, V. K. Krishna Menon, and Sardul Singh Kavishar, Bose attended the conference to represent India and addressed the attendants in one session to rally against imperialism and colonialism. In 1956, when the Suez Canal was nationalized by the Egyptian government under Gamal Abdel Nasser, India voiced its support to Egypt against the tripartite invasion by the United Kingdom, France and Israel.
Increasing authoritarianism (1957–1964)[]
Bose led the BRP winning its first majority of seats in the 1957 general election, commanding 221 of 421 seats in the Lok Sabha. Sardul Singh Kavishar, a long-time associate of Bose since pre-war days, was appointed prime minister by the President in a BRP-led government with the supports of CPI, CLP and the minor Republican Party. The CLP was represented in the Kavishar Cabinet by Lal Bahadur Shastri and Thakur Malkhan Singh as Minister of Food and Agriculture and Minister of Sports, respectively. Nehru, however, became more critical to Bose's heavy-handed intervention on the parliamentary democracy as well as the latter's Soviet-oriented foreign policies.
In 1958, Feroze Gandhi, a CLP Lok Sabha representative from Rae Bareli and Nehru's son-in-law, highlighted that the government-owned Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) had invested Rs. 12.4 million (about US$3.2 million at the time) in the shares of six troubled companies owned by Haridas Mundhra in 1957. The investment was done under governmental pressure and bypassed the LIC's investment committee, which was informed of this decision only after the deal had gone through. In the event, LIC lost most of the money. Gandhi's anti-corruption crusade embarrassed Bose who was personally close with Mundhra. The incident hampered the government's image and was used by the opposition figures, such as Maniben Patel and Morarji Desai, to attack Bose and the BRP's credibility.
The electoral success of Fatima Jinnah in Pakistan inspired Maniben Patel, the daughter of late Vallabhbhai, and the INC to launch the Alliance for the Preservation of Democracy (लोकतंत्र सुरक्षा मित्राई Loktantr Surakṣā Mitrāī) in 1959, joined by the Bharatiya Jana Sangh and local pro-autonomy parties. Patel emerged as the most outspoken opponent to Bose, calling for a constitutional amendment to limit the presidential terms and powers and increase the states' rights over the central government. Nehru, who had became more alienated from Bose, spoke openly in support of Patel. The LSM was also anti-communist in nature and its activists took several street fights with Communist Party supporters in Hyderabad, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Bombay.
Economic decline (1964–1966)[]
Industry grew 7.0% annually between 1950 and 1965, almost trebling industrial output and making India the world's seventh largest industrial country. GDP and GNP grew around 3.9–4.0% annually between 1950–1951 and 1964–1965. It was a radical break from the colonial era, but India lagged behind in comparison to other industrial powers in Asia like Japan, China and Manchuria. State planning, controls, and regulations were believed to have hindered economic growth. While India's economy grew faster than both the United Kingdom and the United States, low initial income and rapid population increase meant that growth was inadequate for any sort of catch-up with rich income nations.
References[]
- ↑ Sarao, K.T.S. (2012). The decline of Buddhism in India: A fresh perspective. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd.. ISBN 978-81-215-1241-1.
Further readings[]
Disclaimer[]
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