Do-Now 1/6/16
 Get out your Notes and title them “Nature and
Structure of Indian Democracy Part 1”
 Think back to the movie Gandhi – what were some of
the issues about Indian democracy that were discussed
in the last part of the film?
Nature and Structure of
Indian Democracy Part 1
Ms. Hays
IB HL History
India before 1947
 Indian Sub-continent - Rich mixture of
people, languages and religions
 Hindus, Muslims, & Sikhs
 1900-1947, India ruled by a viceroy
 Indians limited representation in
gov’t
 Nationalist Movement – Beginning of
20th century
 Indian National Congress – nationalist
organization formed in 1885
 First mostly wealthy Hindus
 Muslim League in 1906
 Gandhi transformed the Indian National
India Before 1947
 Role of Nehru
 Jawaharlal Nehru – successor to Gandhi
 Lawyer educated in England
 Joined INC in 1916
 1920s – travelled India
  determined to improve position of peasants
 Traveled to Europe and USSR
  believed in a form of socialism for India
 Also envisioned India as tolerant secular democracy
 Became the President of INC in 1930
 Formed a powerful relationship with Gandhi
India before 1947
 Constitutional Developments
 British forced to accept constitutional
change & independence inevitable
 Created divisions and against INC
 1935 Government of India Act




Provincial Legislatures
British governor more powerful
Only 10% of the population had right to vote
British Viceroy still had ultimate power
India before 1947
 Concept of Partition
 The INC = single united nation
 Muslim League = partitioned
India
 Muslims were a minority w/ fears
 Wanted separate country Pakistan
 Mohammed Ali Jinnah
 INC opposed partition
 Gandhi = religious tolerance
 Nehru = a secular state
 Violent clashes between Hindus
and Muslims
Independence and Partition in
1947
 Feb. 1947 –Louis Mountbatten - last
Viceroy of India to facilitate the
handover of power by 15 August 1947
 Decide whether power would be
handed over to one, two or more
states, where the borders would
be, and what would happen with
the “princely states”
 Plan Balkan – suggested transfer of
power to each province separately
 Violence  INC accepted partition
 Millions began to flee their homes
Sources
Bottaro, Jean and Stanley, John. 2011. History for the IB
Diploma: Democratic States. Cambridge, UK.
Cambridge University Press. p. 68-71.
Do-Now 1/7/16
 Get out your Compare and Contrast paragraph from
yesterday
 Review what you wrote
Nature and Structure of
Indian Democracy Part 2
Independence
 August 1947 – British leave India
 2 Separate States: India and Pakistan
 East and West Pakistan
 Gandhi celebrated w/ a 24 hour fast
Flight of the Refugees
 Millions migrating
 Punjab and Bengal Province problems
 Mixed populations
 Divided each province
 15 million people abandoned their homes and
belongings
 Punjab




Sikhs – no state for them
Joined Hindus going East, Muslims move West
up to a million people were killed
East Punjab 60% Hindu and 35% Sikh, West
Punjab almost entirely Muslim  ethnic
cleansing
Flight of the Refugees
 Bengal was also
partitioned
 More gradual
 End of 1947
 Order Restored
 40 mill. Muslims
remained in India
 several mill. Hindus
in Pakistan
 huge financial
burden
 Other Effects of the
Partition
Incorporation of the princely
states
 Over 550 ‘princely states’
 Pressures to give up their independence
 Economically tied
 Sardar Patel, the deputy prime minister

Got all but three to incorporate
 Hyderabad and Junagadh
 Muslim princes over Hindu populations – annexed
 State of Kashmir
 Hindu prince ruling over mostly Muslims
  War between India and Pakistan from Dec. 1947 – Jan. 1949
 UN arranged a cease fire, split Kashmir between the two
 Other European Powers withdraw
 France from Pondicherry in 1954
 India took Portuguese Goa by force 1961
Changes Under Nehru
 Nehru Prime Minister from 1947 to 1964
 First government - coalition dominated by the Congress
Party (INC)
 Main task – rule India until a new constitution and first
elections
The Constitution
 Created by Constituent Assembly




300 members
Public invited to make submissions
Chief Architect was Patel and the Law Minister, Ambedkar
Nehru only took part when controversial matters were
involved
The Constitution
 26 Jan. 1950
 Parliamentary form of Government
 2 houses of Parliament
 Lok Sabha (lower house) – over 500 members – elected by
constituency
 Rajya Sabha (Council of States) – smaller upper house – members
chosen by state assemblies
 Elections every 5 years – universal suffrage
 Constituency system – parliament and state assemblies, firstpast-the post
 Gov’t formed by party that won majority seats in election
 Leader of party = prime minister
 Head of state = president elected for five-year term by members
of parliament and state assemblies
The Constitution
 Federal structure
 Strong central gov’t controlled major issues
 Individual states autonomy (self-control)
 Met the need for unity while allowing for decentralization
 State structure
 Elected assembly
 Leader of the Party w/ majority = chief minister
 Supreme Court
 Judicial Review
 Bill of fundamental rights – included social and economic
rights
The Constitution
 Completely secular
 Important to Nehru
 Defended against communalism
 Problem of Language
 Constitution Recognized 14 major languages - Hindi and
English the official languages
 International Status
 Allowed to stay a member of the British Commonwealth
 Nehru pursued a policy of non-alignment
The First Election
 1952 – over 170 million voters – 84% were
illiterate
 489 national parliamentary seats
 Over 3000 state assembly seats
 Congress Party 75% of the seats in the Lok
Sabha
 Earned 45% of the vote
 Communist Party the main opposition
 Extreme right-wing party, Jan Sang, 3%
 Victory for secularism, moderation and
national unity, and rejection of
communalism and regional interests