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See also: 1996 in India, other events of 1997, 1998 in India and the Timeline of Indian history.

Events

January to June

• 7 February - An alliance of Sikh and Hindu nationalist parties wins a resounding victory over the Congress in state assembly elections in Punjab.
• 28 February - The government is strengthened by a daring, market friendly budget.
• 13 March – India's Missionaries of Charity chooses Sister Nirmala to succeed Mother Teresa as its leader.
• 19 March - The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), a powerful low-caste party, deserts its alliance with Congress in Uttar Pradesh to form a government with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
• 30 March - Congress withdraws support from the United Front, accusing Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda of poor leadership.
• 21 April - Inder Kumar Gujral, a new leader acceptable to Congress, is sworn in as prime minister.

July to September

• 3 July - Laloo Prasad Yadav is ousted as president of the Janata Dal party. On July 5 he announces the formation of a new party called Rashtriya Janata Dal.
• 14 July - K.R. Narayanan is elected president, defeating T.N. Seshan.
• 25 July - Laloo Prasad Yadav resigns as chief minister of Bihar after a warrant for his arrest, on charges relating to an animal fodder scandal, had been issued. He names his wife, Rabri Devi, as his successor and the first woman chief minister of Bihar.
• 25 July – K.R. Narayanan is sworn in as India's 10th president and the first member of the Dalit caste to hold this office.
• 16 August - Krishan Kant is elected vice president.
• 5 September – Mother Theresa of Calcutta dies of heart failure in Kolkata.
• 9 September - 49 senior Hindu politicians and religious figures are charged with conspiracy and incitement to riot for their alleged role in the sacking of the Babri mosque at Ayodhya in 1992.

October to December

• 12 October-18 October - Queen Elizabeth II pays a state visit to India.
• 21 October - Violence erupts in the Uttar Pradesh state assembly during a vote of confidence on the Hindu nationalist state government. Deputies trade blows on the floor of the assembly in the state capital of Lucknow and hurl chairs and microphones at each other. A dozen lawmakers are injured and several journalists are also hurt. The BJP's one-month-old government headed by chief minister Kalyan Singh lost key support in a hung assembly on October 19 when the Bahujan Samaj Party withdrew its support, plunging India's most populous state into a political crisis. The government wins the confidence vote after opposition members walk out in protest against the violence in the hall. Federal rule over the state is imposed the same day, but later canceled.
• 20 November - Congress threatens to withdraw support for the United Front if it does not drop the regional Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party from the government after the DMK was linked by an investigative panel to Sri Lankan separatists blamed for the killing of Rajiv Gandhi.
• 26 November - The United Front rejects the Congress demand to expel the DMK.
• 28 November - Prime Minister Gujral resigns after the Congress party withdrew support from his government.
• 4 December - The president orders mid-term elections.
• 29 December - Sonia Gandhi, Italian-born widow of Rajiv Gandhi, announces her decision to join the Congress election campaign.

Full date unknown

• TRAI (telecom regulator) is established.

Deaths

• 9 December - K. Shivaram Karanth, writer, social activist, environmentalist, Yakshagana artist, movie maker and thinker (b.1902).
• Anup Kumar, actor (b.1932).