Independent India and Pakistan

• Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964): First PM of India until his death. Parliamentary democracy, non-alignment, state-led development, secularism. The Nehru–Gandhi dynasty (Indira, then Rajiv) dominated Indian politics for decades.
• Muhammad Ali Jinnah (1876–1948): Founder of Pakistan; first Governor-General. Died in 1948.

India became the world's largest democracy. Pakistan has had a more turbulent history with periods of military rule, civil war (which produced Bangladesh in 1971), and unresolved tensions with India.

Why Gandhi matters beyond India: His methods directly influenced the American civil rights movement (MLK studied him carefully), the anti-apartheid movement, the solidarity movement in Poland, and many other freedom struggles. The principle that morally legitimate movements can defeat physically stronger oppressors through disciplined nonviolent resistance is one of the most powerful political ideas of the twentieth century.