Internet on Independence Day (1995)

2011: Bin Laden Killed
• Date: May 2
• Location: Abbottabad, Pakistan
In an intense 40-minute nighttime firefight, 25 U.S. Navy SEALs hunt down and kill al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, in a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Within hours, bin Laden’s body is identified using DNA and then buried at sea.
The nation weeps for Nirbhaya (2012)
In a country that wasn’t a stranger to sex crimes, the 2012 gangrape and murder of a young physiotherapy student, who was christened Nirbhaya (or fearless) by media, on a bus as it moved through the streets of Delhi on a winter night, outraged public sensibilities, brought people across India, young and old, male and female, onto the streets in a spontaneous movement seeking tighter rape laws and a safer environment for women, and prodded even disbelievers to pray for the recovery of the woman as she battled for her life (first in India, then in Singapore). Laws were amended to accelerate trials and tighten punishment, and treat juvenile offenders accused of heinous crimes be treated as adults, a fund was created to make cities and towns safer for women, and states around the country launched women’s safety helplines – but as Hathras and Unnao and Hyderabad and a countless other recent examples indicate, the battle is far from won.
Modi! Modi! Modi! (2014)
It may seem surprising in 2022, but till June 2013, a year before the election that saw his ascent to the top elected post in the country, there was no certainty that Narendra Modi would be the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Prime Ministerial candidate. In June 2013, he was named chairman of the party’s election committee, and in September, its Prime Ministerial candidate – with both decisions being opposed by party veteran L K Advani. A combination of his stature as the tallest Hindu leader in the country, his incorruptible image and track record as the chief minister of Gujarat, and smart social engineering in important Hindi belt states such as Uttar Pradesh worked to Modi’s advantage – as did disaffection with the Congress-led UPA’s mismanagement of the economy and involvement in several corruption scandals. The result: the BJP became the first party to achieve a majority in the Lok Sabha on its own in three decades, and the party would go on to better these numbers in 2019.