India became free in 1947 after the British had won a pyrrhic victory over Hitler's Germany. They at that time were too weak to hold on to their possessions and Lord Attlee decided the time had come for the British to go away. The Indian Independence Act was passed by the British parliament and India was granted freedom in 1947.
The Congress party led by Gandhi had been agitating against British rule for almost 40 years. Unfortunately their impact was minimal and Gandhi was treated like a gentle old man as he cooperated with the English by siding with them against Hitler.Gandhi died soon after independence but lived long enough to see that the British had the last laugh as they bifurcated India on the concept of the two nation theory and created Pakistan. The British departed from India but left India to face a perpetual problem in the form of a Muslim state that was anathema to India.
The Congress party under Jawaharlal Nehru won all the elections after 1947 as at that time there was
a) No worthwhile opposition
b) The people still had some love for the grand old party for its role in the freedom movement.
Unfortunately, the Congress party when in power squandered the good will of the people and followed policies and practices that economically devastated India. it also under the leadership of Nehru for reasons that have never been explained had a soft corner for the Muslim minority and Nehru went out of his way to respect Muslim sentiments even to the extent of ignoring the constitution.
Nehru also showed that he had little concept of power politics and was outmaneuvered by both Mao and earlier by Jinnah and the result was that India lost 40% of Jammu and Kashmir and became a second-rate power to China which occupied vast tracts of Indian land.
Nehru died in 1964, leaving insurmountable problems for the Indian state.The last straw which broke the back of the Indian state was the creation of linguistic states. We must remember that India throughout history was NEVER divided into linguistic lines. Nehru changed all that and laid the first seeds of division in a united India.
Nehru was a man of stature and he was loved by the Indian masses. Unfortunately, Nehru squandered the good will of the people and did precious little to remove the greatest bugbear of India ;poverty.His policies followed later by his successors can only be termed catastrophic as even after 60 years of Congress rule thousands of farmers commit suicide. In a nation where 75% of the population is engaged in agriculture to have thousands of farmers committing suicide is a most unsavory factor. One is not aware whether in other nations so many farmers in thousands are forced to commit suicide. These suicides will forever remain a black mark on the rule of the Congress party. One expected the minimum, that at least food and economic security would be the first priority, but the Congress failed miserably and in a way betrayed the trust of the Indian people.
The one thing that thrived under Congress rule was the proliferation of Black money and all around corruption. The worst period of Congress rule was the era when from 2004-14 when the running dog of the Nehru-Gandhi family, Man Mohan Singh was prime minister. I use the word "running dog" not as something insulting but like a Chinese proverb for a man who has no independence. This man presided over the greatest loot in world history, something which we associate with corrupt men like Batista and others. The situation was so bad that even cabinet ministers of the union cabinet took part in looting the national exchequer and billions were siphoned away. Yet this man in an address to the FICCI was more concerned about Modi than corruption. I recollect that he said that in the case Modi came to power, it will be bad for India.
The Congress party in 60 years of rule lowered the prestige of India globally and till date, the Kashmir problem remains unsolved. I don't think it ever will be solved till there is the last fight between Indian and Pakistan as per the Bible the Armageddon- the last battle between good and evil. Who knows who will win?
Economically the Congress has failed the most. The primary aim of the party stalwarts was to remain in power and for this, the Congress is guilty of creating vote banks. It carried on the policy of the English of divide and rule and it pitted the minority against the majority. Instead of concentrating on economy and prevention of corruption, the unpalatable fact emerges that the Congress was only interested in remaining in power come what may. They thus stoked the communal flame and carried out the greatest carnage in world history when over 10000 Sikhs were killed on the Streets of Delhi> Even Hitler never killed any jews on the streets of Berlin. What a contrast!
The past will haunt the Congress party and as one writer wrote the "grapes of Wrath" will engulph this party. Retribution will come for that is the law of nature.The Congress party cannot absolve itself of culpability where 60% of the population lives below the poverty line and almost 70% of the population have no sanitation facilities, not forgetting thousands of farmers killing themselves because of their abject economic condition. Is this what Gandhi wanted? he remains another big failure in Indian history.
The hour finds the man. I am no supporter of Modi and the BJP and I have written about him in another post. But he is the only ray of hope for India and one hopes he gets his act together and leads India forward. I wonder whether India will have a leader like Kemel Mustapha the Ataturk who modernized Turkey. I am an optimist and I feel sooner than later the Congress party and its leaders led by Rahul will stand before the bar of the Indian people and a messiah will lead India forward. Jai Hind !