[Drifter]

Remember without Gandhi the idea of non-violence doesn't have a big-name advocate. Everything from colonial independence movements to the US Civil Rights efforts are violent, destructive and see far harsher retaliations.

A renewed British Empire, and a marginally more prosperous US/West, thanks to the more prosperous and better integrated India, would certainly make the USSR more nervous. I can see several timelines in this reality cluster. I like the name Babasaheb, Ambedkar's nickname.

Babasaheb-1 is Astromancer's spy campaign, a James Bond world, mid-60s. Rich and advanced enough to actually have a lot of James Bond gadgets.

Babasaheb-2 is a ruined, radioactive wasteland. The Six-Day War sparked a general missile exchange in 1967. Just how ruined is the question; a full exchange wipes out everything ala Centrum. Centrum agents, if here, are probably very active. A key strikes war, maybe only dealing with the mid-East oil fields and some key elements, sees an economically ruined world. With no big oil flows, international shipping dies - at least on an industrial scale.

Babasaheb-3 is beset with civil violence. Rioting consumes many cities in the West as the Civil Rights movement is violently put down. Soviets send aid to the increasingly desperate groups in the American South, and semi-post-colonial Africa. Economic gains made thanks to India in the 50s have eroded away, and much of the West looks like 70s or 80s Israel, large sections of major cities walled off, terrorist bomb blasts a daily occurrence, armed guards everywhere you look. A dystopian, neo-1984 world.