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Republic of India

Republic of India (Bharatiya)

General Information

Background and the South Asian Conflict (1943–1946)

Following the collapse of the British Empire after its defeat in Operation Sea Lion, India’s independence accelerated dramatically. The British colonial administration lost control, and the subcontinent fractured along religious, political, and regional lines.

The Indian National Congress declared a provisional republic in New Delhi, while in the west, Muslim-majority territories proclaimed the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, supported by the remnants of the British colonial army loyal to Muslim officers.

At the same time, in the north, tribal uprisings in the Khyber region led to the emergence of a theocratic and militant Emirate of Afghanistan, heavily armed with captured Soviet and British weapons, and determined to export its Islamic revolution across South Asia.

In 1944, the First Indo-Afghan War began when Afghan and Pakistani forces crossed into Indian Kashmir, triggering a devastating three-year conflict known as the Himalayan War.

The Himalayan War (1944–1946)

The war was fought across some of the most inhospitable terrain on earth — from the deserts of Punjab to the mountain passes of Ladakh. The Indian Army, poorly coordinated and politically divided, initially managed to hold defensive lines, but after massive offensives launched from Peshawar and Kabul, Indian positions collapsed.

Despite attempts to seek aid from neutral European powers, only the United States responded, providing limited material support — mostly transport aircraft, trucks, and light tanks such as the M5 Stuart and M24 Chaffee.

By early 1946, Indian forces were surrounded in Punjab and Kashmir, and after months of attrition and famine, the Indian command accepted a ceasefire brokered by Washington. The Treaty of Karachi formally ended the war, forcing India to cede Kashmir, Sindh, and parts of Punjab to Pakistan, and to recognize Afghan influence in the northern frontier.

Aftermath: Rise of the Hindu Nationalist State

The defeat shattered the old republican government. In late 1946, the Bharatiya National Party (BNP), a militant Hindu nationalist organization led by Arjun Varma, staged a coup d’état in New Delhi.

Claiming that “pacifism and parliamentary weakness” had doomed the nation, Varma established the Republic of Bharata, a one-party nationalist state that merged religious revivalism with militarism.

Varma reorganized the Bharatiya National Army (BNA), purged Muslim and leftist officers, and began an aggressive campaign of reconstruction under the banner of “One Nation, One Faith, One Sword.”

While officially independent, the new India aligned itself with the United States, seeking protection and trade under the American Continental Block in exchange for anti-communist and anti-Islamic cooperation in Asia.

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