The main political events that marked a black spot in the history of India are given below. There were many more but these were the ones that proved that political system in India is not up to the challenge:-
The Emergency, June 1975- March 1977:
Thirty five years ago, June 25, 1975, when most Indians today were not born, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposed a state of Emergency on the country and democracy was suspended for 19 long monthsThe Emergency was declared by Indira Gandhi to suppress the widespread political unrest and agitation generated by her refusal to submit to her unseating from power in a judgment by the Allahabad High Court on an election petition charging her with electoral corruption in her Lok Sabha General Elections.
Overnight, hundreds of political Opposition leaders and activists were arrested and put in jails all over India.
The Indian media was strangled and put under stringent censorship. Human rights and freedoms were brutally suppressed by the Indira Gandhi regime.
No fewer than 100,000 people were arrested and detained indefinitely without trial; many times that number was harassed mercilessly.
On January 23, 1977, Indira Gandhi called fresh elections for March and released all political prisoners. The Emergency officially ended on March 23, 1977.
In the elections Indira Gandhi lost and Janata Party came into play.
Operation Bluestar was called on 3 June, 1984 and continued till 6th June. Indian Military Forces were ordered by Indira Gandhi to remove the Sikh separatists, led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who were amassing weapon inside the Golden Temple in Amritsar.It was a political disaster and an unprecedented act in Indian history. Its aftermath and the increased tensions led to assaults on the Sikh community in India.
An unspecified number of Sikh army personals resigned from the Army from their positions. Operation Bluestar also led to the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on 31 October 1984 by two of her Sikh bodyguards, which triggered 1984 anti-Sikh riots (the worst effect of Bluestar). A nationwide killing of Sikhs, mainly in national Capital Delhi and many parts of Northern India, brought a wide gap between Sikh community and Government especially because of some of the Member of Parliament like Jagdish Tytler (accused but given clean chit, now) and others led the riots against Sikhs in Delhi.
General Viadya, Army Chief, who led the planning and execution of Operation Bluestar, was assassinated by two Sikhs in Pune, 1986.
Regular worship at Golden Temple was resumed on 23 May, 1986. On 29 May, the government banned both political and military use of shrines in India.
This remains as one of the most shameful acts of Indian government.
On December 6, 1992, thousands of Hindus demolished the historic Babri Mosque in Ayodhya, As a result India plunged into political and communal crises. New Delhi also dismissed Uttar Pradesh government, curfew clamped on Ayodhya, Allahabad and Varansi. 
The Liberhan Report :- The report has pieced together a sequence of events as they happened.
According to report:- On that Sunday morning, LK Advani and others met at Vinay Katiyar's residence. They then proceeded to the disputed structure.
The report says. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Katiyar reached the puja platform where symbolic Kar Seva was to be performed, and Advani and Joshi checked arrangements for the next 20 minutes. The two senior leaders then moved 200 metre away to the Ram Katha Kunj. This was a building facing the disputed structure where a dais had been erected for senior leaders.At noon, a teenage Kar Sevak was "vaulted" on to the dome and that signaled the breaking of the outer cordon. The report notes that at this time Advani, Joshi and Vijay Raje Scindia made "feeble requests to the Kar Sevaks to come down... either in earnest or for the media's benefit". No appeal was made to the Kar Sevaks not to enter the sanctum sanctorum or not to demolish the structure.
The report notes: "This selected act of the leaders itself speaks of the hidden intentions
of one and all being to accomplish demolition of the disputed structure."The report holds that the "icons of the movement present at the Ram Katha Kunj... could just as easily have... prevented the demolition."
Now after 18 years the court has given verdict on the the disputed land and divided the land between Hindus and Muslims.
In the longest aviation hijack ever, Indian Airlines flight IC-814 was hijacked and Indan Government failed to prove that it can fight terrorism and take any actions against Pakistan whose involvement was proven afterwards. Sequence of events:-
- IA Flight 814 takes off from Kathmandu at 1615 (IST) hours on December 24, 1999. Air traffic control is reported as asserting that shots were heard on the plane.
- The five armed hijackers make pilot Captain Saran divert the plane over Lucknow and head for Lahore in Pakistan.
- The Lahore airport authorities refuse to permit the aircraft to land, forcing it to head back to Amritsar, India.
- The plane lands at Amritsar where the hijackers demand that the aircraft be refueled. The airport is sealed off.
- The airport authorities send over a tanker for refueling, but due to some problem they seek that the aircraft be brought closer to the tank.
- After a 25-minute wait, the hijackers make the aircraft take off by killing a passenger, Mr. Katyal and head for Lahore, with just enough fuel for the trip.
- India persuades the Pakistani authorities to permit the aircraft to land.
- The aircraft nearly crash lands at Lahore and is surrounded by Pakistani commandos.
- It is refuelled and headed for Kabul. But because of the lack of night-landing facilities there, and later, at Kandahar, the plane is diverted towards Dubai.
- It finally lands at the Al-Minhat air force base. The hijackers demand food, medicines and a step ladder since none is available.
- The UAE officials agree to negotiate if the women and children are allowed to disembark.
- The hijackers release 25 passengers, and allow the body of Mr. Katyal to be released to the UAE authorities.
- Early on December 25, 1999 morning, the flight takes off from Dubai for Afghanistan. At 0855 hours, it lands at Kandahar.
- Senior Indian officials opened talks with the hijackers to secure the release of hostages.
- Hijackers demand release of 35 other jailed terrorists besides Mohammad Masood Azhar and US $200 million for the release of 154 hostages.
- Later hijackers dropped their demands for a $200 million ransom and the exhumed remains of Afghan terrorist Sajjad Afghani.
- Passengers were released on December 31, 1999 after Government of India releases 3 terrorists.
On 27 February 2002 at Godhra City in the state of Gujarat, the Sabarmati Express train was forcibly stopped and attacked by a large Muslim mob. As a result, 59 Hindu passengers, mostly women, children and seniors returning from the holy city of Ayodhya, were burned alive.A retaliatory bloodbath followed in many parts of the state. Hindu mobs torched Muslim homes and businesses, killed Muslim men, women and children, and erased mosques and graves. Instead of isolating those Muslim criminals who attacked the train and punishing them legally, as any law-bound and civilized government would do, the state government allowed revenge killings.
Over a thousand lives, possibly many more, were lost over the next few weeks. Over 100,000 Muslims were pushed into the state’s ramshackle refugee camps, where basic amenities were minimal and living conditions abysmal.
Hindu-Muslim riots are not uncommon in India, but Gujarat violence plumbed new depths of horror and brutality and has come to acquire a double meaning. It was a bruising embarrassment for anyone who believes in the pluralistic core of Indian nationhood, a view enshrined in India’s constitution, a view that gives an equal place to all religions in the country, privileging none.
According to an official estimate, 1044 people were killed in the violence - 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus including those killed in the Godhra train fire. Another 223 people were reported missing, 2,548 injured, 919 women widowed and 606 children orphaned.The riots were horrific blotches of communal hatred in the country’s secular history. Despite the killings, the state government chose to sit in a cushy corner, doing nothing to stop the wave of hatred.
ON THE day the no confidence motion was moved against the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government ie on Tuesday (July 22), three BJP Members of Parliament alleged in the Lok Sabha that each of them was promised three crore rupees to refrain from voting. To firm up the deal, each of them was advanced one crore rupees. The said MPs further alleged that the advance of three crore rupees (at one crore rupees apiece) was given by the secretary of the Samajwadi Party (SP), Amar Singh.
CNN-IBN, the TV channel, claimed that it was in possession of the relevant evidence - it was on video. The channel passed on the evidence to the Speaker of the house, Somnath Chatterjee. Presently, it is in the custody of the secretary of the Lok Sabha.
According to reliable sources, the Speaker watched the video on July 23.
This incident shook the faith of people from the so called people’s government.
Courtesy: Wikipedia & India Today
Courtesy: Wikipedia & India Today
