Political succession after Nehru

Nehru died in May 1964, after leading India for seventeen years. Many observers abroad feared that India's democracy would not survive him. They called the 1960s a 'dangerous decade': poverty, inequality, and divisions of caste, language and religion might tear the country apart, or bring a dictator.

First succession: the Congress president K. Kamaraj consulted party leaders and MPs and built a consensus for Lal Bahadur Shastri, a quiet and modest leader. Shastri was chosen unanimously.

Shastri (1964–66) faced two great challenges:

• a severe food crisis, caused by failed monsoons;
• the 1965 war with Pakistan.

His slogan 'Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan' (hail the soldier, hail the farmer) honoured those who were defending the country and feeding it. He died suddenly in Tashkent on 11 January 1966, just after signing the peace agreement with Pakistan.

Second succession: this time there was a real contest. Indira Gandhi, Nehru's daughter, faced Morarji Desai. In a secret ballot of Congress MPs, she won the support of more than two-thirds of them. So she was not chosen unanimously.

The senior Congress leaders who backed her thought she would be inexperienced and would depend on them for advice. She soon set out to take control of the party and the government herself.

Two changes of Prime Minister in under two years, both peaceful and both by the rules, showed the world that Indian democracy had matured.