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India loses brief border war with China.
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Death of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru
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Second war with Pakistan over Kashmir
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Nehru's daughter Indira Gandhi becomes prime minister
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Third war with Pakistan over creation of Bangladesh
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Twenty-year treaty of friendship signed with Soviet Union
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India explodes first nuclear device in underground test
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Indira Gandhi declares state of emergency after being found guilty of electoral malpractice
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Period: to
Nearly 1,000 political opponents imprisoned and programme of compulsory birth control introduced
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Indira Gandhi's Congress Party loses general elections
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Indira Gandhi returns to power heading Congress party splinter group, Congress
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Indira Gandhi assassinated by Sikh bodyguards
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Rajiv Gandhi takes over as Prime Minister
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Gas leak at Union Carbide pesticides plant in Bhopal.
Thousands are killed immediately, many more subsequently die or are left disabled. -
Period: to
India deploys troops for peacekeeping operation in Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict.
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Rajiv Gandhi assassinated by suicide bomber sympathetic to Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers.
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Hindu extremists demolish mosque in Ayodhya, triggering widespread Hindu-Muslim violence.
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BJP forms coalition government under Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.
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ndia carries out nuclear tests, leading to widespread international condemnation.
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ajpayee makes historic bus trip to Pakistan to meet Premier Nawaz Sharif and to sign bilateral Lahore peace declaration.
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Cyclone devastates eastern state of Orissa, leaving at least 10,000 dead.
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India marks the birth of its billionth citizen
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US President Bill Clinton makes a groundbreaking visit to improve ties
