India: A road less travelled

Hey this is my first timeline so go easy on me. The POD begins with Lal Bhadur Shastri ends up helping Sardar Valabhai Patel in the Indian independence movement and becomes his protege. Secondly the tortures Jahwalal Nehru suffers are much greater than in the OTL. As a result his health begins failing in 1948. By 1950 Nehru is dead. :(

Sardar Valabhai Patel also nearing his death but still fairly lucid orchestrates for Shastri to ascend to Prime Minister. This is followed by a Congress win in 1952. How does India change in these pivotal decades as it is no longer led by an idealist but a politician worthy of Richard Nixon himself?
Here are some changes to just give a rough idea of how India changes

  1. Shastri in OTL emphasized food security quite a bit. We could probably see changes such as a bigger start to the Amul milk cooperation.
  2. Again Shastri was not as socialist as Nehru himself was. he might well adopt reforms to make India more competitive later on.
  3. Shastri in the ATL has helped use military force, as such anticipate a better armed India for conflicts
  4. He might well not adopt the IITs and other innovations Nehru did making India less competitive on the world stage.
  5. Indiria Gandhi and Rajiv likely have very different terms of office if at all they go into politics
 
Hey this is my first timeline so go easy on me. The POD begins with Lal Bhadur Shastri ends up helping Sardar Valabhai Patel in the Indian independence movement and becomes his protege. Secondly the tortures Jahwalal Nehru suffers are much greater than in the OTL. As a result his health begins failing in 1948. By 1950 Nehru is dead. :(

Sardar Valabhai Patel also nearing his death but still fairly lucid orchestrates for Shastri to ascend to Prime Minister. This is followed by a Congress win in 1952. How does India change in these pivotal decades as it is no longer led by an idealist but a politician worthy of Richard Nixon himself?
Here are some changes to just give a rough idea of how India changes

  1. Shastri in OTL emphasized food security quite a bit. We could probably see changes such as a bigger start to the Amul milk cooperation.
  2. Again Shastri was not as socialist as Nehru himself was. he might well adopt reforms to make India more competitive later on.
  3. Shastri in the ATL has helped use military force, as such anticipate a better armed India for conflicts
  4. He might well not adopt the IITs and other innovations Nehru did making India less competitive on the world stage.
  5. Indiria Gandhi and Rajiv likely have very different terms of office if at all they go into politics
Well i dont much about early indian politics, but for your last point, rajiv is highly unlikely to go into politics. With nehru dieing earlier, the congress party becomes far less of a monarchy. While indira may be able to use her father and her own skills to become prominent, quite possibly pm, i doubt she could gain the strangehold on the party that she did iotl.
 
In a situation where Jawaharlal Nehru is dead in 1950 and Sardar Patel outlives and succeeds him, large scale changes are inevitable. Barring Nehru, many of the Congress leaders were not sympathetic to socialism. Hence the Congress led by Patel is likely to drop socialism from its policies. The Congress is likely to shift to the Right and take a position similar to that of the B.J.P. today. It was the adoption of socialism as a slogan of the Congress that took wind out of the sails of the original Socialists in India like Jayaprakash Narayan and Ram Manohar Lohia. As the Congress drops their socialist pretensions, a strong Socialist Party is likely to emerge as a major opposition.
Most important outcome could be the failure of a Nehru-Gandhi Dynasty to emerge. The chances of Indira Gandhi becoming Prime Minister recedes, and Rajiv Gandhi is likely to remain a pilot in Air India. Who will succeed Vallabhai Patel as Prime Minister cannot be predicted. If he dies soon after Nehru, G.B.Pant is the most likely successor. If it is sometime later it could be Lal Bahadur Shastri or Morarji Desai. Both of them had a strong dislike towards Indira Gandhi, but it was in OTL due to her behavior as Nehru's daughter. Any how in the absence of Nehru her political success is doubtful.
Large scale changes are likely in Foreign Policy. Early flirtation with China as under Nehru is not likely. Patel viewed P.R.C. with suspicious eyes. He had reservations about Soviet Union as well. India under Patel would have followed a more pragmatic policy with less baggage of idealism.
 
Top