Why 1967 Marks a Watershed in Modern Indian History

 

 

Fifty years down the road, people in America, Afghanistan and Pakistan (If they exist in the current shape and form) and Nepal will still be talking about 2001. For Americans and Afghans and Pakistanis, it will be 9/11. In Nepal, it will be about a royal prince allegedly massacring his own family. Some years will always be etched in a nation’s history and memory: 1945 for Japan (Hiroshima and Nagasaki), 1991 for Russia (The Soviet Union imploded), 1948 for Israelis and Palestinians (the state of Israel was formed and Palestinians became refugees), 1963 for Americans (John F Kennedy was assassinated)….

But there are some years that will reverberate in the chronicles of history throughout the world. These will not be cataclysmic years like 1939, when Nazi Germany invaded Poland, or 2008, when America had a black Presidential candidate for the first time. But who said history is always about metastasis; it is usually about catharsis. And when it comes to a year that heralded change in India and the world, there is simply no match for 1967. That is the year that marks the beginning of the end of innocence; the end of the beginning of tolerance and mutual respect. The year 1967 is a symbol of both hope and the death of dreams.

Che Guevara was killed in 1967; forever etched in history as the ‘romantic’ revolutionary. The Beatles released their album Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band and generated worldwide hysteria; students in Paris, San Francisco and Buenos Aires demonstrated against Vietnam; Israel and Arab nations fought a 7 day war that still haunts and torments the Arab psyche; racial riots convulsed the United States, Thurgood Marshall became the first black Supreme Court Chief Justice of America and China exploded its first Hydrogen Bomb. These were all hints of the momentous changes and upheavals that were about to sweep the world. From Marshall to Obama has been a long journey; China is the undisputed rival of America and the ideals of Che live on across the world. But there have been many betrayals too of ideals and hopes. In 1967, it looked as if peaceniks will conquer the world and anti-establishment forces will win victory after victory. Such fond hopes were snuffed out systematically, as conservatism and fanaticism regained ground to the point where they dictate the global agenda as of now. The year 1967 was even more momentous for India. If the era from 1947 to 1962 represented one of hope, idealism and optimism for India (many would call it the era of naiveté), the years after that were peppered with despair, rage, frustration and a sense of humiliation. It was not just the debacle of 1962, when the Chinese military humbled India; it was also the complete failure of the monopoly Congress to deliver the goods. In fact, you can say with confidence that if independent India was born as a nation in 1947, a modern nation state was born in 1967.

In Tamil Nadu, the DMK leader vanquished the Congress in a decisive electoral victory. Since that defeat in the 1967 election, the Congress has always played second or third fiddle to the Dravidian parties. In West Bengal, not only did an alliance led by the CPI(M) defeat the Congress, ‘revolutionary’ Marxists even launched the Naxalite movement. That one was crushed; but its foster children are tormenting a third of India. In almost the entire ‘Hindi’ heartland, regional satraps like Charan Singh displaced Congress veterans as the people who electorally matter. That was the beginning of the end of Congress.

Sadly for India, 1967 also marked the end of a beginning of liberal economic policies that were round the corner in 1966, when Indira Gandhi became the Prime Minister and devalued the Rupee. The United States was sending massive shipments of food grains under the PL–480 scheme that saved millions of Indians from starvation. Incidentally, 1967 was also the last year that India confronted a famine, as the seeds of the Green Revolution were sown at that time. By 1967, Indira Ganhi was facing a formidable challenge from the old Congress bosses led by the puritan Morarji Desai and an array of royals from the former princely states. To neutralise her opponents, she went ‘socialist’ with a vengeance, and India had to wait 24 more years till 1991 for pragmatic economic policies to take root.

If you've wondered how Rabri Devi became a Chief Minister and how Mayawati can become the Prime Minister, just examine 1967 very closely. If you are worried about regional parties and formations hijacking a ‘national’ agenda, blame 1967 as the year that started it all. If you are still not convinced, just recall a few Bollywood movies of that year: Manoj Kumar starred in the patriotic Upkaar where he plays a farmer and a soldier, while Ashok Kumar and Dev Anand star in Jewel Thief, where Indian criminals go ‘international'!