In pictures: India marks eventful 75th anniversary since British independence

India is celebrating its 75th anniversary of independence.

“At the stroke of midnight,” said Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, “when the world slumbers, India will wake up to life and freedom.”

The historic speech just before midnight on August 15, 1947 turned the hopes of millions into reality that India is a free, independent country whose British colonial past is a thing of the past.

Seventy-five years on, India has changed dramatically, and its story is told through its upheavals, daunting obstacles, dynamic victories and horrific tragedies.

The birth of the nation was not easy, bloodletting claimed many lives as the former jewel in the crown of the British Empire was divided into predominantly Hindu India and predominantly Muslim Pakistan.

The assassination of Mahatma Gandhi is yet another difficult time for the nascent nation, but India continues to press ahead with plans to become the world’s largest democracy.

The Tibetan leader, the Dalai Lama, sought refuge after a failed uprising and clashes with China and Pakistan in the 1960s.

Bangladesh’s fight for independence from Pakistan has won India’s support, and the conflict has further heightened tensions between the neighbours.

Few would believe that in a few decades, India would be economically the dominant force in the sport it helped change.

But more tragedies lie ahead, including a bloody operation against Sikh militants in Amritsar and a chemical disaster in Bhopal that killed some 15,000 people.

After the deaths of Mahatma and Indira, another Gandhi Rajiv was killed by a Sri Lankan suicide bomber, and the unresolved Kashmir conflict, like Pakistan, has nuclear weapons at its disposal like its neighbors.

In 2000, India’s population passed the one billion mark, and it is displacing China as the world’s most populous country, although the 2004 tsunami was another disaster that hit India hard.

But the largely India-inspired reinvention of world cricket and the influence of Bollywood ensured India marked its anniversary with a strong cultural presence on the world stage.