SHAKEN, STIRRED

PICTURE SPEAK

LONE RANGER: A disillusioned Nehru after the Chinese aggression

The border dispute with China, which led to war and humiliating defeat for India in 1963, was the lowest point in Jawaharlal Nehru’s career. It caused him a certain loss of face in the international arena and undermined his position at home. It eroded his authority as he faced the first no-confidence motion in Parliament, an act of daring that was inconceivable at any time between August 1947 and November 1962. On crucial policy matters, ministers defied Nehru. Against this background, Nehru forced the resignations of six cabinet ministers who had opposed him. It was an attempt to reassert his authority and revitalise the party, but time was not on his side. Weak in both spirit and authority, a shaky Nehru prompted everyone to ask the inevitable question, After Nehru, Who?—the title of a book by American journalist Wells Hangen.

HIGH YIELDER

Norman Borlaug, plant breeder, came to India to test new varieties of Mexican wheat, whose yields were five times better than Indian varieties. This later fuelled the Green Revolution.

FIRST CUT

India’s space programme began in Trivandrum, Kerala. The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Trivandrum was named after the father of Indian rocketry.

Ray Dolby, while working in India, conceived of separating recorded sound into two channels as a means to strip away unwanted tape recording noise. His first prototype was completed in London in 1966.

DID YOU KNOW

After a helicopter crash killed five of India’s finest generation of military commanders, no two senior officers were allowed to travel together on the same aircraft again.

GUNGI GUDIYA, HE SAID
Ram Manohar Lohia

Opposition stalwarts Minoo Masani, J.B. Kripalani and Ram Manohar Lohia entered Parliament in 1963 when the Congress was defeated in a series of important by-elections. Earlier Lohia, a prolific writer and doctorate from Berlin, had created a stir, publishing a pamphlet, 25,000 Rupees a Day, which he said was the amount spent on prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, while most Indians lived on 3 annas a day. A fierce critic of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty—he called Indira Gandhi gungi gudiya in 1967—he also acknowledged the centrality of caste in Indian politics, rejecting Marxism as much as capitalism.

NIKE, INDIAN EDITION

The seeds of India’s modern rocketry programme were sown on November 21, when a Nike-Apache rocket, made in the US, rose from Thumba. The 715-kg two-stage rocket rose to an altitude of 208 km, releasing sodium vapour that illuminated the sky.

JAWAHARLAL NEHRU explaining the Chinese aggression
“The Chinese are a military-minded people, always laying stress on military roads and preparedness.”

ROMANCE, QUTUB STYLE

Nutan and Dev Anand sang Dil ka bhanwar kare pukar on the steps of Qutub Minar in Delhi and a thousand hearts started beating when Tere Ghar Ke Saamne was released. The actors played the children of two feuding millionaires in the classy comedy by Dev Anand’s under-rated brother, director Vijay Anand, while its music was composed by S.D. Burman.

ELSEWHERE...

Dr James Campbell performed the first human nerve transplant.

Sukarno was appointed first president of Indonesia.

John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, had been in office two years, 10 months and two days, when an assassin's bullet ended his life in Dallas, Texas.

The first female astronaut Valentina Tereshkova was launched into orbit by the Soviet Union aboard Vostok VI.

22,000 were killed by cyclone-driven tidal waves from Bay of Bengal in India. Over 1,00,000 went missing, while 1 million houses were destroyed.

50% was the limit of reservation for all institutions, as mandated by the Supreme Court.

1964: INDIA AT 60

END OF AN ERA

PICTURE SPEAK

ORPHANED: Indira Gandhi and the nation mourn Nehru’s death

REWIND

The Nehru era has come to an end, announced The Indian Express. Jawaharlal Nehru’s death was announced in All India Radio’s 2 p.m. bulletin, and though Gulzarilal Nanda was sworn in as successor, the power struggle had begun. When asked once what his legacy to India would be, Nehru had said, “Hopefully, it is 400 million people capable of governing themselves”. Nehru’s personality was reflected in the nation he governed. As biographer Geoffrey Tyson said, “If Nehru had been a different kind of man, India would have been a different kind of country.”

FIRST CUT

The National Film Archive of India was established as a media unit of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in February.

The Industrial Development Bank of India was established on as a wholly-owned subsidiary of RBI

The first Indian mutual fund, Unit Scheme-1964 a.k.a. US-64, was founded by the UTI.

ALL’S GOLD

India regained its hockey gold medal beating Pakistan in what was to be, unfortunately, India’s last Olympic hockey gold. In the semi-final, India beat Australia 3-1 to set up their third consecutive clash with Pakistan in the Olympic finals.

DID YOU KNOW

Actor Guru Dutt died while working on K. Asif’s Love and God in October. Asif himself died in 1971 and the film was never completed, though it was released in a half-finished form in 1986.

PICTURE SPEAK

PRIME TIME: Radhakrishnan swears in Shastri

“A STRONG MAN INDEED, WHO IS SURE OF HIMSELF.”
Lal Bahadur Shastri

So said The Guardian about Lal Bahadur Shastri. He gave himself a slogan, Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, which he took seriously when it came to budget allocations. Having inherited a nation which was psychologically and financially on an edge, he gave a sense of national unity to India. He also surprised everyone by building an innovation, the Prime Minister’s Secretariat, which has evolved into the all-powerful PMO now.

JAYAPRAKASH NARAYAN welcoming Sheikh Abdullah’s release
“It is remarkable how the freedom fighters of yesterday begin so easily to imitate the language of the imperialists.”

A Holy Call

Pope Paul VI visited India in 1964. Massive crowds gathered at the Oval where the 38th International Eucharistic Congress was held on December 4. A group of Hindus raised objections, though, thinking the Pope would try to convert people.

ELSEWHERE...

The G.I. Joe action figure debuted as a popular American toy.

U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry issued the first major government report saying smoking may be hazardous to one's health. A US report, “Smoking & Health”, connected smoking to lung cancer.

Fatah, the Palestinian guerrilla group founded by Yasser Arafat, launched its first armed attack against Israel. The annual celebration of this day came to be known as Fatah Day.

30 countries participated in the third International Film Festival aimed at providing a common platform to filmmakers and cine-goers.

4,850 people were killed in a cyclone that hit India and Ceylon.

THE TWISTER

The Rameswaram cyclone wiped out the villages of Dhanuskodi from the map. A passenger train which left Rameswaram was washed off by the storm leaving several dead. The Pamban bridge connecting Mandapam and Rameswaram island was also submerged.

ONE MAN, ONE ACT

Sunil Dutt, a popular and charismatic star, made his directorial debut with Yaadein, a one-of-a-kind film with a single actor. It had some bizarre scenes like an attack from a bunch of toys. The only other living presence in the film was the silhouette of Priya, played by his actor-wife Nargis. The film’s story was credited to her.

1965: INDIA AT 60

THE SIEGE WITHIN

PICTURE SPEAK

LANGUAGE BAR: Agitating students swear by English

REWIND

Anti-Hindi protests gripped Tamil Nadu as the DMK organised the Madras State Anti-Hindi Conference on January 17, calling for observing January 26 as a day of national mourning—the day the 15-year grace period for the use of English as the official language was going to end. The stir was led by students, who hit the streets out of concern for their careers, with a call of “Hindi never, English ever”. The agitation soon became state-wide. In the Budget session of Parliament, President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan assured members that English would stay in India. Linguistic pride had won.

FIRST CUT

The annual national beauty pageant, Femina Miss India, was held for the first time, in which Persis Khambatta was declared the winner. She went to Hollywood and later appeared in Star Trek.

BORDER CONTROL

Till 1965, Indo-Pak borders were manned by the State Armed Police Battalion. After the war, a specialised Border Security Force was formed for the international border.

DID YOU KNOW

The Army was called to patrol the streets when 1,00,000 marchers set the security booth of All India Radio and Congress president K. Kamaraj’s house on fire to protest cow slaughter.

“WE AIM TO RESTORE DEMOCRACY, BUT OF THE TYPE PEOPLE VALUE.”

That’s what Mohammad Ayub Khan (above left) said when he took over Pakistan, becoming the first Pakistan general to lead a coup in 1958. The commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Army since 1951, he was also the first to openly align with the US against the Soviet Union and establish close ties with China, in many ways setting the tone for subsequent governments. But the war against India in 1965 was the beginning of his end, with his foreign minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto resigning after he signed the Tashkent Declaration with Lal Bahadur Shastri (above right) and aligning against him. Under pressure from him and another opposition leader Maulana Bhasnani, he had to turn over the government to Commander-in-chief Yahya Khan.

RONALD SEGAL in a study, The Crisis of India
“What foreign observers are finding perturbing is that free expression of liberal views by Indians seems to be in danger.”

CIRCULAR BEDS, FANCY CARS

Waqt, Yash Chopra’s multi-starrer, was a tribute to the spirit of Punjabis, with its lusty colour and spirited youngsters. Its design ethos, suggesting a prosperity of no fixed address, was much copied. As movie scholar Ashish Rajyadaksha wrote: “It had a series of living rooms in pink and blue, with fountains and circular beds in bedrooms, motor boats and fancy cars in which the rich raced each other to get the girl in between attending huge parties”. Ah, yes, there was also Sadhana’s hair, Raj Kumar’s sharp suits and Shashi Kapoor’s smile.

ELSEWHERE...

Singapore’s prime minister Lee Kuan Yew proclaimed de facto independence from Malaysia and Singapore.

Congolese lieutenant general Mobutu ousted Joseph Kasavubu and declared himself president.

Winston Churchill died at the age of 90. India grieved though Churchill had never wanted India’s independence.

765 reporters during the 1965 war were taken to the for-ward areas, and 14,300 photos issued every month.

4,000 Indians died in 1965 Indo-Pak war, while Pakistan lost 3,000 men.

Index