In Pictures: India marks an eventful 75 years since independence from UK
The country, soon to be the most populous on Earth, has had an eventful time since severing ties with London.
India is marking 75 years since becoming independent.
“At the stroke of the midnight hour,” India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru said, “when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom.”
The historic speech just before midnight on August 15 1947 turned the hopes of millions into reality with India a free, independent country and its British colonial history in the past.
Seventy-five years on, India is vastly changed and its story is told through its throbs of tumult, daunting hurdles, spirited triumphs and terrible tragedies.
The nation’s birth was not an easy one, with bloodletting claiming many lives as the former jewel in the crown of the British Empire was partitioned into predominantly Hindu India and largely Muslim Pakistan.
The assassination of Mahatma Gandhi was another difficult moment for the nascent nation but India pressed on with plans to become the world’s biggest democracy.
Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama sought refuge in India following a failed uprising and the 1960s were marked by conflicts with China and Pakistan.
Bangladesh’s struggle to win independence from Pakistan won support from India in a conflict that further raised tensions between the neighbours.
Few would believe that in decades India would become financially the dominant force in the sport it has helped transform.
But there were further tragedies ahead, including the bloody operation against Sikh militants in Amritsar and the chemical disaster at Bhopal that killed an estimated 15,000 people.
Following the deaths of Mahatma and Indira, another Gandhi, Rajiv, was killed by a Sri Lankan suicide bomber while the still unresolved Kashmir conflict simmered with Pakistan which, like its neighbour, had nuclear weaponry at its disposal.
In 2000, India’s population passed the billion mark and it is on course to replace China as the world’s most populous nation, though the tsunami of 2004 was another disaster that exacted a heavy toll on India.
But the largely Indian-inspired reinvention of world cricket and the impact of Bollywood has ensured India marks its anniversary with a strong cultural presence on the world stage.
