India has come a long way from the country the British exited in 1947, and since evolved into a vibrant constitutional democracy and made rapid strides in several domains. Below are the major events in the Indian politics timeline updated till Mar 2020. I have grouped the timeline into eight phases.
Other timelines:
Phase I [1947 – 1950] – Union of India / Dominion of India
Aug 1947 – Independence from British Raj and partition of sub-continent into two separate nations, India and Pakistan
Oct 1947 – First Indo-Pakistani War over Kashmir issue
Jan 1948 - Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi by Nathuram Godse
Jan 1950 – Union of India transformed into the Republic of India by the promulgation of the Constitution of India
Phase II [1951 – 1962] – Era of Jawaharlal Nehru
Feb 1951 – First General Election of India won by Indian National Congress (INC) Jawaharlal Nehru became the first democratically elected Prime Minister of the country.
Feb 1957 – Second General Election of India won by Indian National Congress (INC). Jawaharlal Nehru continued the term
Mar 1959 – Dalai Lama exiled to India. One of the event leading to first Indo-China war
Feb 1962 – Third General Election of India won by Indian National Congress (INC). Again Jawaharlal Nehru continued the term.
Phase III [1962 – 1975] – War Time
Oct 1962 – First Indo-China war
May 1964 – Death of Nehru due to illness. Gulzarilal Nanda became acting PM for 13 days and later Lal Bahadur Shastri took oath as 2nd Prime Minister of India
Apr 1965 – Second Indo-Pak War over Kashmir
Jan 1966 – Suspicious death of PM Lal Bahadur Shastri. Again, Gulzarilal Nanda became acting PM for 13 days and later Indira Gandhi took oath as 3rd Prime Minister of India
Feb 1967 - Second General Election of India won by Indian National Congress (INC). Indira Gandhi continued the position
Oct 1967 – Clashes between Indo - China over Kingdom of Sikkim. Official known as Nathu La and Cho La clashes.
Nov 1969 – Split in Indian National Congress (INC) following the expulsion of Indira Gandhi. Moraraji Desai lead INC (Organisation) and Indira Gandhi led INC (Requisitionists). Later, INC (R) evolved to become INC (I) where I means 'India'.
Mar 1971 – Early Fifth General Elections of India won by Indian National Congress (I). Indira Gandhi continued the position of prime minister. INC(I) was later recognized by the election commission as the successor to the INC after election. The party was allowed to call itself the Indian National Congress without any suffix.
Dec 1971 – Third Indo-Pakistani War leading to formation of new country Bangladesh
May 1974 - India conducts its first underground nuclear test and joins the league of powerful nation
Phase III [1975 – 1980] – Emergency and Fall of Congress
Jun 1975 – Indira Gandhi declared Emergency. India saw the rise of Sanjay Gandhi.
Mar 1977 – End of Emergency
Mar 1977 – Sixth General Elections of India. Hastily formed Janata alliance (combinstion of four parties of different idelogies) won the election. Moraraji Desai became first non-congress prime minster of India.
July 1979 – Moraraji Desai resigned from the post after Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) withdrew support to the government. Charan Singh became the next PM more mere 170 days when INC promised to support Singh in Parliament but later backed out. Charan Singh, forced to resign, called for elections in January 1980 and is the only Prime Minister of India never to have faced parliament.
Phase IV [1980 – 1989] – Era of Gandhi Family
Jan 1980 – Seventh General Elections of India won by Indian National Congress. Internal feud between Janata Party leaders and the political instability in the country worked in favour of Indira Gandhi and she came back as Prime Minister of India.
Jun 1980 – Suspicious death of Sanjay Gandhi. Questions raised on Indira Gandhi.
Jun 1984 – Operation Blue Star. Troops storm Golden Temple - Sikhs' most holy shrine - to flush out militants pressing for self-rule.
Oct 1984 – Assassination of Indira Gandhi over storming Golden Temple. The Lok Sabha was dissolved after her death and Rajiv Gandhi was sworn in as interim Prime Minister.
Dec 1984 – 8th General Elections of India won by Indian National Congress. Indira's Gandhi assassination on October 31, 1984, created a sympathy vote for the Congress. Rajiv Gandhi became Prime Minister of India.
July 1987 – India deploys troops for three years peacekeeping operation in Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict.
July 1989 - Outbreak of militancy in Jammu and Kashmir and exodus of Kashmiri Pandits
Phase V [1989 – 1998] – Political Instability in Country
Nov 1989 – 9th General Elections of India won by five-party National Front and VP Singh became the prime minister. Congress government losing credibility and popularity due to internal and external issues like Bofors scandal, rising terrorism in Punjab, the civil war between LTTE and Sri Lankan government and lost the election.
Aug 1990 - Mandal Commission report implemented by the VP Singh government gave 27 per cent reservation to the Other Backward Castes (OBCs) in government jobs and led to widespread violence and protests across the country
Nov 1990 - One more time the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) withdrew support to the VP Singh government over Ayodhya issue. VP Singh but had to step down within a year after a vote of no confidence over Mandal-Mandir issue. Chandra Shekhar became the next prime minister with mere support of 64 MLAs and outside support of Congress. Congress withdraw the support within a year after the Congress alleged that the government was spying on Rajiv Gandhi and lead to another general election.
May 1991 – Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi over LTTE and Sri Lankan government issue
June 1991 – 10th General Elections of India. No party could get a majority, so a minority government (Indian National Congress with the help of left parties) was formed. P V Narismha Rao became prime minster. Rao was the only second Congress PM from outside the Nehru-Gandhi family. The first non-Nehru-Gandhi family PM from Congress was Lal Bahadur Shastri.
Dec 1992 - Demolition of Babri Mosque in Ayodhya, triggering widespread Hindu-Muslim violence.
Mar 1993 - Serial bomb blasting in Mumbai
May 1996 – 11th General Elections of India. Again, No party could get a majority. The Bharatiya Janata Party formed a short-lived government for 16 days with Atal Bihari Vajpayee as prime minister. Followed by H. D. Deve Gowda and Inder Kumar Gujral as 11th and 12th prime minister of the country, both serving less than a year. The 11th Lok Sabha produced three Prime Ministers in two years and forced the country back to the polls in 1998.
Feb 1998 – 12th General Elections of India. The outcome of the new elections was also indecisive, with no party or alliance able to create a strong majority. Although the Bharatiya Janata Party's Atal Bihari Vajpayee regained his position of Prime Minister getting support from 286 members out of 545, the government collapsed on 17 April 1999 when the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, with its 18 seats, withdrew their support. This led to a vote-of-confidence motion in the parliament that the government lost 272-273 (by one vote), leading to a fresh general election in 1999.
May 1998 - India carries out nuclear tests, leading to widespread international condemnation
May 1999 – Fourth Indo-Pakistani War. Famously known as Kargil Wars.
Phase VI [1998 – 2004] – Rise of BJP
Mar 1998 - The entry of Sonia Gandhi, a relative newcomer having been elected to the Congress party presidency in 1998, was challenged by then Maharashtra Congress leader, Sharad Pawar, on the grounds of her Italian birth.
Oct 1999 - Vajpayee's handling of the Kargil War, strong economic growth in last two years, and internal issues in Congress over Sonai Gandhi running in the BJP's favour in 13th General Elections on India and for the first time, a BJP led NDA managed to win a majority and form a government that lasted a full term of five years, thus ending a period of political instability.
Dec 2001 - Gunmen attack on Indian parliament
Feb 2002 - Inter-religious bloodshed breaks out after 59 Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya are killed in a train fire in Godhra, Gujarat.
Phase VII [2004-2014] – Congress Back in Action
Apr 2004 – Most believed the NDA, riding high on the feel-good factor and its promotional campaign 'India Shining', would beat anti-incumbency and win clear majority in 14th General Elections in India. But surprising win for Congress led UPA. However, Sonia Gandhi surprised almost all observers by declining to become the new prime minister. Instead, she asked former finance minister Dr Manmohan Singh to take up the mantle.
Mar 2006 - US and India sign a nuclear agreement
Nov 2008 - Attack on Mumbai where 10 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, carried out 12 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks lasting four days across Mumbai.
Apr 2009 - The UPA was able to put together a comfortable majority one more time in 15th General Elections of India and Dr Manmohan Singh continue as prime minister of India
Apr 2011 - World’s longest running democratic Left rule comes to an end as Mamata Banerjee defeats communists in West Bengal
Phase VIII [2014 – Current] – NaMo India
Apr 2014 - 16th General Elections of India, BJP and its allies won the right to form the largest majority government since the 1984 general election, and it was the first time since that election that a party had won enough seats to govern without the support of other parties. This is the Congress party's worst defeat in a general election. In order to become the official opposition party in India, a party must gain 10% of the seats (55 seats) in the Lok Sabha; however, the Indian National Congress was unable to attain this number. Due to this fact, India remains without an official opposition party. Mr. Narendra Modi beacme 14th Prime Minsiter of India.
Nov 2016 - Government announces demonetization of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 notes creating nation wide havoc
Feb 2017 - BJP creates history with landslide win in the Uttar Pradesh assembly election.
July 2017 - The Goods and Services Tax (GST) introduced in India
Apr 2019 - The Bharatiya Janata Party won 303 seats in 17th General Elections of India, further increasing its substantial majority. Mr. Narendra Modi continued as prime minster of India.
Mar 2020 - Corona Virus pandemic all over the world. India announced 40-day lockdown all over the country.