Evidence1947
Independence
Red Fort, Delhi
The Indian Independence Act takes effect at midnight on 15 August; Nehru tells the Constituent Assembly India keeps its tryst with destiny.
Nehru spoke in the Constituent Assembly as midnight struck. The new government was sworn in that morning, and on 16 August he raised the flag over the Red Fort's Lahori Gate, a ceremony every prime minister has repeated since.
The map changed with it: two dominions; most of some 565 princely states already acceded to one or the other, but Junagadh, Hyderabad and Kashmir still in contention; and a line through the Punjab and Bengal that had not yet been published.
- political
- colonial