From 1947-1997

To Look Back in Time:

Moving your mouse over a date on the timeline to the right will display related images of India's key events.

For more details about India's history scroll thru the historical review to the far right.

1947: Indian independence; India partitioned

1948: Mahatma Gandhi assassinated; Integration of princely states

1949: Ceasefire in Kashmir; Enactment of Indian constitution

1950: India becomes Republic

1952: First general elections; Congress government comes to power

1956: The states are reorganized on a linguistic basis

1962: War with China

1964: Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru dies

1965: War with Pakistan; ceasefire declared

1966: Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri dies at Indo-Pak summit at Tashkent; Indira Gandhi comes to power

1971  India and Pakistan wage another war

1972: Simla agreement signed between Indira Gandhi and Pakistan Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (Benazir Bhutto's father.)

1974: India becomes the world's sixth nuclear power, explodes nuclear device in Pokhran, Rajasthan

1975  Indira Gandhi found guilty by court of electoral malpractice; President declares state of emergency due to "internal disturbance threat"

1976  India and Pakistan re-establish diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level

1977: Emergency ends in sixth General elections; Janata Party comes to power

1979: Janata Party splits; Seventh general elections held

1980  Indira Gandhi returns to power

1984: Indira Gandhi assassinated; son Rajiv Gandhi becomes Prime Minister; In Bhopal, Union Carbide gas leak kills over 2,200

1989: Rajiv Gandhi's Congress defeated in ninth general elections; minority government led by Janata Dal's V.P Singh comes to power

1991: V.P Singh's government falls; Rajiv Gandhi assassinated by Sri Lankan Tamil suicide bomber; Tenth general elections sees Congress government return to power with P.V. Narasimha Rao as Prime Minister

1992: A Hindu mob demolishes the Babri Masjid (mosque) at Ayodhya; sparks off Hindu-Muslim riots in several cities across the country

1996: Eleventh general elections -- the largest democratic exercise on the planet -- sees fall of P.V. Narasimha Rao and the Congress government. The Bharatiya Janata Party comes to power and falls after 13 days; United Front Coalition forms government under Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda

1997 Congress withdraws support to coalition government; Deve Gowda resigns, I.K. Gujral becomes India's 12th Prime Minister