Modern India
Raj to republic
The Raj Consolidates
The Sepoy Mutiny aftermath, Crown rule, the railways and the famines, the slow construction of an Indian middle class
1858–1885
The Congress Awakens
Curzon partitions Bengal, Swadeshi mobilization, the Surat split, World War I, and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre that ended British constitutional credibility
1885–1919
Gandhi's Method
Champaran, satyagraha, the Non-Cooperation Movement, Chauri Chaura, and the Salt March that brought the world's attention to the Indian freedom struggle
1915–1930
The Path to Freedom
The Government of India Act 1935, Congress provincial ministries, the Cripps Mission, Quit India, Bose and the INA, the Bengal famine, and Direct Action Day
1930–1946
Partition
Mountbatten compresses the schedule, Cyril Radcliffe draws the borders in five weeks, the largest forced migration in human history, and Gandhi's assassination
1947–1948
Nehru's Republic
Ambedkar's constitution, the integration of the princely states, planned development, non-alignment, and the 1962 Sino-Indian War that broke Nehru
1947–1964
Shastri and Indira's Rise
The Green Revolution, the 1965 war, Tashkent, Indira chosen as a pliant successor, the Congress split, Bangladesh, and the Smiling Buddha nuclear test
1964–1971
The Emergency
The Allahabad verdict, JP's call for civil disobedience, the Emergency declared, Sanjay Gandhi's regime, and the 1977 election that ended it
1971–1977
Indira Returns and Rajiv
The 44th Amendment, the Janata collapse, Indira's return, Operation Blue Star, the assassination, the Sikh pogrom, and Rajiv's troubled premiership
1977–1989
Liberalization
The Mandal Commission moment, the 1991 balance-of-payments crisis, Manmohan Singh's economic reforms, the Rao premiership, and the Babri Masjid demolition
1989–1996
Coalition Decade and NDA
Three Prime Ministers in two years, the BJP's NDA coalition, Pokhran-II, the Kargil War, the IT boom, and the 'India Shining' campaign that failed
1996–2004
Manmohan's UPA
MGNREGA, the Right to Information Act, the US nuclear deal, Mumbai 26/11, the corruption scandals, Anna Hazare, the rupee crisis, and the BJP's return
2004–2014
Modi I
Demonetization, GST, Swachh Bharat, the JAM trinity, Uri and Balakot, the Quad revived, and a stronger 2019 majority
2014–2019
Modi II
Article 370 abrogation, the CAA-NRC protests, COVID, the farmers' protests, Galwan, Chandrayaan-3, the G20, and the 2024 election that reduced the BJP majority
2019–2024
The Republic at Seventy-Seven
Modi 3.0 under coalition constraint, the demographic dividend window, the China question, the diaspora superpower, and the open question of where the republic goes
2024 onward