1947 India gains independence one day after Pakistan is created; Nehru becomes prime minister
1947-49 India and Pakistan fight over Kashmir on the China border
1948 Gandhi, on his way to evening prayer meeting, is shot to death by a Hindu extremist
1966 In a compromise, the left and right wings of the Congress party name Indira Gandhi India’s first worman prime minister
1971 India asists East Pakistan I winning a war against West Pakistan. East Pakiston becomes Bangladesh
1974 India explodes its first nuclear device underground, but denies it has plans to build nuclear weapons
1984 Indira Gandhi is assassinated by a Sikh. A Union Carbide gas leak in Bhopal kills 2,000 people.
1991 Rajiv Gandhi, Indira’s son and successor, is assassinated
1996 The congress party, India’s longtime ruling party, is defeated
